Ticking Clock
by letsgoandgeronimo
Summary: If you ask any of Henry Griffin's friends they will tell you he has a talent for trouble. Ella Benson is different. But only a week after she meets Henry they get into the worst sort of trouble. Read inside for a more awesome summary. Rated T for a reason
1. Ready, Set, Taken

**Summary: If you ask any of Henry Griffin's friends they will tell you he has a spectacular talent for getting himself and them into trouble. Mysteries and bad guys seem to flock towards him and he normally escapes with no injuries. Ella Benson is an old friend of Jasper's. She's talented, funny, smart beautiful and never gets into trouble…and Jasper just knows she's perfect for Henry. But only a week after meeting Henry she and him get into the worst sort of trouble. They wake up and find themselves in a trunk of a car. Henry thinks he may have, in all of his escapades, angered someone very dangerous. But could it be the girl he's with? Is she the reason she's in this mess? And can he get them out of it? Or will they have to face the ever growing possibility of injury or even death?**

Disclaimer: Umm, Do I really have to say it? Nothing is mine. At all. I wish, but alas, we cannot get all that we wish for… sadly.

A/N: All right I have to admit that this show is a guilty pleasure of mine. And my brother and sister make fun of me for watching it, but I really could care less. And I could care less that they made fun of me for writing this. I hope Ella is a believable and likeable character and she's totally not annoying. Forgive me if I get any facts wrong and please review and tell me. ;D That would be wonderful.

**WARNING! This story will contain cuss words, injury and angst (which is why it is rated the way it is). I mean, like every other word won't be the F-bomb but there will be a few words that as a teenager I use occasionally. The injury will be fairly… um… hurtful and I will warn you at the beginning of those chapters if you do not enjoy reading that kind of thing. Well, if you don't you shouldn't probably read my story at all… But hey, you may want too.**

Umm, I think that's all I have to say at this point. Review. I like them. Just don't be terribly mean please… Well I guess without further ado… NO! Just kidding. Okay, so I'm going to bring the characters from _Criminal Minds_ into the mix. And you do not have to have seen the show to understand I will explain everything like a good author should and if you still don't get it, tell me and I will gladly explain whatever you want. :D Okay, NOW without anymore interruptions.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

"Jasper, where are we going?" Henry Griffin, a blonde sixteen year old boy asked the boy in the driver's seat. Also sixteen year old Jasper Bartlett, his brown-haired cousin, answer him.

"For the last time, Henry," Jasper said turning into a rather crowded parking lot, "just trust me."

"The last time you took me out and told me to trust you, some guy asked if we were gay and I could feel the thumping of the bass from the speakers for days after we left," Henry replied.

"That wasn't my fault," Jasper snapped. "Okay, that was Maggie's idea."

The girl named Maggie Winnock gave an unapproved snort. "It was not," she said from the backseat tucking a strand of her brunette hair behind her ear. "That was all you, buddy."

"Just stop," Jasper said. "This place is better. Trust me."

Henry rolled his eyes. "I would much rather be meditating," he said and Jasper gave an exasperated sigh.

He parked the car and all three teenagers emerged, only two of them looking like they were going out. Jasper wore a stripped blue button down shirt with a pair of jeans. Maggie had curled her hair and was wearing a stylish purple top with her own pair of jeans and silver sandals. Henry on the other hand was dressed like he was going for a hike. He was sporting some sort of green half buttoned t-shirt with khaki shorts and tennis shoes, much to Jasper's chagrin. "Why couldn't you have worn something else?" he asked shutting the door to his car.

"What's wrong with my clothes?" he asked as he shut his own door, and Jasper shook his head.

"Never mind, dude," he replied. You see, both Maggie and Jasper were used to this almost ignorant behavior. Henry had not grown up in the United States. In fact, he had grown up nowhere near the North American continent. He had spent his childhood moving from place to place with his anthropologist parents. China, Africa, among other places. Even Jasper didn't know all the places he'd managed to live in sixteen years. The fact of the matter was Henry hadn't the first clue how weird he was to the teenage population of Washington DC.

At any rate, Jasper had the idea to take Henry "out" to do things normal teenagers do on a Saturday night. And in DC, the best teenage club (and Jasper was stunned he hadn't thought about this before) was the one they were about to enter. But Jasper lead them past the main entrance with kids lined up out the door to get in and back to a door with virtually no line and big guard standing in front. "Jasper, where are we going?" Maggie asked.

Again, Jasper replied, "Just trust me." _If he keeps saying that,_ Henry thought, _I am going to kill him. _He walked up to the man, feeling only slightly confident.

"Name?" he asked in a deep voice.

"Jasper Bartlett," he replied. The man looked over the three teenagers and looked back down at his list.

"And these are your plus two?"

"That would be them," Jasper said.

"Go ahead," he replied and move to the side to allow them to enter.

"Thank you," Jasper said, slightly relieved as he, Maggie, and Henry entered the club from the back.

"What was that?" Maggie asked.

"Well, you know how Ella sings here every other Saturday?" Jasper asked.

"Ella Benson?" Maggie asked. Of course she knew Ella sang here. I mean, everyone at Smithson High knew Ella Benson. "You personally know Ella Benson? Give me a break."

"No I do!" Jasper said. "We went to kindergarten together. And we've had at least one class together since then." Maggie shook her head.

"Wait," Henry said confused. "Who's Ella Benson?" Everyone apparently, except Henry.

"She's only like the hottest girl in school," Jasper said. "She's freakin' gorgeous, has a wicked singing voice, is amazing at acting and is like the sweetest girl on the planet. But she's crazy picky about who she dates."

"Which is depressing for you because that means you don't have a chance," Maggie said nudging Jasper on the arm.

"Is not," he defended with a scowl.

"Really?" Maggie asked, her eyebrows raised. "Because I heard a rumor that she was under the impression you were gay for your entire seventh grade year."

Jasper pursed his lips together, clenched his jaw and said in a strained voice, "That may be true, but for your information Miss Missy we went out for two months in eighth grade, thank you very much. But we mutually agreed that it would be best if we remained friends."

"Uh huh," Maggie replied. "I heard she dumped you."

"Well," a female voice said from behind them, "whoever told you that was wrong." All three turned to find Ella standing behind them, a grin on her beautiful face lighting up her emerald green eyes. She was wearing her own pair of jeans with a tank top shirt that was low cut. _But_ Maggie thought to herself _it's not that low cut. It's flirty not whore-y. _But her embarrassment of being caught talking about her behind her back caught up with her and she blushed.

"Sorry," she said. "I-I mean you hear things and I was… Well I was just-" she stammered, but Ella just smiled.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "It's not like you were telling me to go to hell or anything, so it's all right." Her attention turned away from the girl and towards the boy she knew. "Hey, Jasper," she said. Both were grinning as they hugged and then Jasper spoke.

"Hey, Elle," he said calling her by the nickname that had stuck in second grade. "So how's life?"

"Well, considering we spoke only just last week…" she said, "pretty darn good." He chuckled. "And you must be Maggie," she said as she held out her hand. Maggie took it and nodded. "And you must be Henry, right? Jasper's cousin?"

"That would be me," Henry said shaking the girl's hand.

"Well Jasper's told me all about you two," Ella said. "It's great to finally meet you." Her eyes traveled down Henry's form. "That's an…" she searched for the correct word. "…interesting choice of outfit. But hey, who am I to judge people, right? To each his own I suppose or that's what my fellow Tolkien-ites say."

Maggie was shocked. "Wait, you read LOTR?" she asked.

"Oh, heck yeah," Ella replied. "Read it, watch it, live by it. It's all the same thing!" Jasper had a half grin on his face, but Henry was just lost.

"What's LOTR?" Henry questioned, but no one answered him.

Maggie continued to speak. "Where in Middle Earth would you want to live?" she asked.

"Oh the Shire," Ella replied. "No questions. What about you?"

"Definitely Lothlorien," Maggie answered. "Living in the trees and stuff. Awesome. Favorite character?"

"Aragorn," Ella said.

"Me too! Oh my gosh, and isn't Viggo Mortenson the best person to play him?"

"Of course! There's no one better! Plus, he's like gorgeous."

"Uh, yeah! Though it makes me angry that a man is prettier than I am."

"Oh don't be stupid, you're gorgeous too."

"Really? _Hannon le_."

"Oh you speak Elvish! Lucky! I never have enough time to learn!"

"Yeah, most people never know it, but its fun to know anyway."

"Five minutes to show, Ella!" a man in a headset called from behind them. Ella groaned, but Henry was thankful. Anymore of the quick banter and he would have lost his mind in confusion.

"Crap," she said. "Well as much as I would love to sit here and talk about _Lord of the Rings_ all night, and trust me I _really _would, I actually do have to sing." It was the nice way of throwing them out, Henry supposed and Jasper's reply confirmed it.

"Well, we'll just go and sit down then," he said.

"Okay!" she said. "Well, when the show's over maybe you guys can hang around. I can foot the bill for some food if you'd like."

"That would be great," Jasper said. They all turned to leave but Ella had one more thing to say.

"Enjoy the show guys!" she called. They waved and left to find some vacant seats.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Henry was actually fairly impressed. Ella was actually an extremely talented singer and many people instead of talking during her live performances sat –or danced- and listened. She seemed to be a natural on the stage and her mood was infections.

By the time she had finished an hour had passed by and everyone in the club had listened to her at some point. When she said goodnight, many cheered for her and several boys felt the need to wolf-whistle. And Henry had to admit, she was actually quite beautiful.

She pushed through the crowd, acknowledging those who had spoken to her with a smile and a wave and made her way to where he, Jasper and Maggie were seated. Jasper had quickly vacated his seat and hugged Ella again. "Wow," he said. "That was more amazing than I remember it."

She chuckled. "Thanks, but that could be because that last time you heard me sing was a year ago. That's a full year of rehearsals, choir practice, and musical theater lessons, my friend. And it was definitely better than when we were little squirts singing karaoke."

"You used to sing karaoke, Jasper?" Maggie asked with a grin.

"Maybe," Jasper replied, blushing lightly, though in the bleak light of the club no one saw. "But that's not the point."

"What's karaoke?" Henry asked, confused.

"Well, it's kind of like what I just did," Ella replied. "Except there's a screen with the lyrics of the song you're singing, you don't have a back-up band just the music from the monitor, and most of the people can't sing."

"Oh," Henry said, though he still had no clue as to what she was talking about. But he shook his head. He was sure he would not need to know what karaoke was in his day to day life.

"Why don't we sit down?" Ella asked. "Come on," and she led them to an open booth in the far corner of the club.

"Well, it's nice to hear myself think," Maggie commented scooting to the interior of the circular table. Jasper did the same leaving Henry and Ella to sit on the edges. Henry took the seat next to Jasper and Ella next to Maggie. They talked and talked, Henry getting lost in the midst of their topics more than once. This caused him to whisper endless questions to Jasper sitting next to him and sometimes, even Jasper couldn't answer the questions Henry had about what the girls were blabbering on about.

"Excuse me," Henry said as he slid out of the booth. He weaved past people in and out to try and find his way through the forest of teenage bodies moving to the music to attempt to locate the restrooms.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Jasper turned to Ella. "So…" he said with a grin. "What do you think of Henry?"

"Well," Ella said. "He's cute. He has nice hair… good teeth."

"Stop quoting the _Parent Trap_," Jasper said. "Tell me what you really think."

She tried to hold back a grin. "Why, Jasper, are you trying to set me up on a date with your cousin?"

Jasper's face turned crimson, but he continued to speak. "Maybe. It depends on what you think of him."

"Well, from what I've seen his seems like a nice guy," she said, "but he hasn't really said much all night."

"Probably because you and Maggie were blabbering away," Jasper said shooting both girls a look. Maggie shrugged apologetically. "Anyway-" but Ella cut him off.

"Wait, why does Henry need you to set him up on a date?" Ella asked, resting her chin on her open palm.

Jasper sighed dramatically. "He's just awkward."

"It's cute," Ella said. "He's cute.

"Yeah," Jasper said, "but looks aren't everything and he's weird and I'm sure he's never been on a date in his life."

"So you thought you would ask me to go out with him?" Ella asked, clearly amused. Maggie was also enjoying herself, trying to stifle her laughs at the look on Jasper's face.

He opened his mouth to reply, but couldn't find the words to. "Okay that totally did not come out like I planned it to." Maggie could not hold in her laughter any more.

She snorted loudly and Jasper glared at her. "I hate you," he said.

"I don't know," Ella said honestly. "I like to know someone before I date them, at least a little. And I mean, I'm really sort of weird about who I date."

"You dated him," Maggie said, pointing to Jasper.

"Good point," Ella said, her face acquiring a contemplative look.

"Hey," Jasper said, looking immensely annoyed.

"I'm totally kidding Jasper," Ella said with a grin. "Look, I'll tell you what, because I've know you forever and I trust you I will try and talk to Henry over the next week or so and if I like him, I'll ask him out. Okay? I'm not promising anything though."

"Okay," Jasper said. Maggie snorted again and fell into a fit of the giggles. This caused Ella to start to laugh and when Henry returned he was left guessing as to what happened after he had left.

"What are you guys laughing at?" he asked.

"Oh, Jasper just told this hilarious joke," Maggie said, through her laughs. "Tell-tell him Jasper." And she could speak no more. Everything else she said was drowned out in her fit of the giggles.

"Did I mention how much I hate you?" Jasper asked with a glare at the two girls, still laughing hysterically.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Almost a week later, Henry was walking through the halls at Smithson High alone. He had forgotten something in his locker and he didn't realize it all the way through his volunteer work. It was late, around six thirty and it was already dark outside. Jasper had gone to get his car and would most likely be waiting for Henry already.

He slammed his locker door closed and looked down at the accursed homework assignment he had nearly forgotten. Shaking his head, he stuffed inside his messenger bag slung over his shoulder and made his way out of the school. As he rounded a corner, he found he was not alone in the building.

Ella was standing with her back towards a small lanky boy, most likely a freshman, cowering against the wall glaring at what Henry assumed was a football player. He hid behind the corner but gazed curiously, wanting to know exactly what was going on. "Leave him alone, Michaels," Ella spat.

"Ella," the football player said, in an almost flirtatious tone. "You know, I'll leave him alone if you go on a date with me."

"I wouldn't touch you with a ten-foot pole," Ella said.

"That's not what I'm asking you," he said with a grin.

"Go screw yourself," Ella said. "You're into guys right?" Even Henry could tell that was a terrible insult. She smiled smugly as the boy named Michaels lost his grin.

"You're gonna pay for that one," he said sinsterly.

"Really?" she asked. "Because if you even think about coming any closer to me, I will kick your ass."

"You wouldn't dare," he replied.

"You wanna bet?" she asked, narrowing her eyes. Henry thought for a moment that he was going to move closer to her, but instead he backed away. "That's what I thought. If I ever hear that you've bothered this boy again, well… use your imagination." She tossed her head to the side. "Get going." And Michaels left.

Ella then turned to the boy behind her. "Are you okay?" she asked softly with a small smile. It was much different than the tone she used with the football player. The boy nodded. "What's your name?"

"Joey," he replied timidly.

"Joey," she repeated. "Hi, I'm Ella. Now if that moron ever bothers you again, you come and talk to me. I'll take care of it. Okay?"

"Okay," he replied, a little less timid. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," she said with a grin. "I'll see you around okay?" He nodded and ran off. Ella watched him go and when he was out of sight she said, "Enjoy the show, Henry?"

Henry's eyes widened, but he came out from behind the corner. "How did you know I was there?"

"Oh jungle boy," Ella said playfully. "You're not the only one with skills, you know."

"Apparently," he replied as he walked until he was beside her in the hall. "I didn't know you knew self defense."

"What?" she asked confused. But it dawned on her. "Oh that. Please that was a bluff. I would not want to get into a fight with Jeff Michaels. I sure am glad he didn't call me out on it. I would be down and out in like two minutes, maybe less."

"Oh," Henry said, furrowing his brow. "So I take it, Jeff Michaels isn't gay."

"Oh God no," she said. "He's as straight as they come. Did you see him hitting on me? Gross," she shuddered. "But called a straight guy gay, especially one with the ego the size of Texas like Michaels, is a huge insult."

"Oh," Henry said. It was then he noticed her attire. She was wearing a tank top and sweat pants and her short brownish red hair was pulled back into a tight bun with a few strands here and there falling out.

Ella caught his questioning look and said, "Oh I was at rehearsal for the school musical." Henry nodded in understanding. "Man that should be a sport. All that running around and singing at the same time, whew." He smiled getting slightly more relaxed than he was at first. "What are you doing here so late?"

"Oh, volunteer work," he replied.

"Cool," she said.

"I'll walk you out," Henry said.

She nodded and they walked in silence for a few moments. Then Ella spoke up again. "So how are you getting home?"

"Jasper," Henry replied. "I forgot something in my locker and Jasper went out to get the car."

"Aha," she said. "Well, that makes sense." They had reached the front of the school and both strode up to the idling car near the sidewalk.

"Well, it's about time Henry!" Jasper called from the driver's seat. "Oh! Ella, what are you doing here so late?" he asked upon seeing the girl.

"Rehearsal," she replied simply and he too nodded in understanding. "Well I actually really have to go," she said. "It's a ten minute walk to my house and my dad is expecting me home."

"Wait I thought you had a car," Jasper said.

"Well I did until it got totaled," she replied with an annoyed sigh.

"Whoa, you were in an accident?" Jasper asked, clearly concerned.

"Oh God no," she said. "It was parked on the side of the road and some drunken idiot slammed into it. I had to take it to the shop and I don't get it back for another week. So now I have to walk home," she finished.

"Man that sucks," Jasper said. "But I don't think you should walk alone. Henry, why don't you walk her home?"

Henry furrowed his brow. "Why can't you drive her?"

"Oh well," Jasper said shooting Ella a subtle look and thanking his lucky stars that Henry had not caught it. "I haven't had my license for more than six months and so I'm not allowed to drive anyone other than you and if my dad finds out he'll have like a conniption fit."

"You drove Maggie before," Henry said, pointing out the obvious.

"I'll pick you up in twenty minutes okay?" Jasper asked, making eye contact with Ella and she knew immediately what he was doing. "Awesome, bye!" And he drove off. But though she knew what he was doing, that didn't mean she was okay with it. However, since he was there, she might as well…

"What just happened?" Henry asked Ella.

"Well, I think Jasper is trying to get us alone," Ella said, revealing only some of what Jasper's plan was. He left her here with him, so she was doing this her way.

"Why would he do that?" Henry asked.

"I have no idea," Ella said. "But since he's not coming back for another twenty minutes, you might as well do what he wants and walk me home." Henry debated for a brief moment, but finally agreed.

They walked talking about the typical subjects for about five minutes until Henry heard something behind them. He whipped his head around only to see… nothing, just a few bushes lining the sidewalk path. "What?" Ella asked.

"I thought I heard something," he said softly, still looking around behind him.

"I'm sure it was nothing," Ella said brushing it off. "You know Jasper told me that you were like really paranoid."

"Well, most of the time my paranoia turns out to be true," Henry said.

"It was probably just a squirrel or something," Ella repeated. Henry nodded and turned around to continue to walk forward. Again he heard a scuffle behind him, but this time when he turned around he saw Ella struggling with an assailant who was forcing a rag over her mouth and nose. Henry channeled all of his martial arts training and began to fight back.

He defense lasted a minute, maybe less but then another man came up behind him and slapped another rag over his face. As he struggled, his arms and legs became weaker. He didn't know what was on that cloth, but it was doing what it was supposed to. Soon Henry slipped into unconsciousness, unaware as to what part he was going to play in something far out of his control.

The three men zip tied the two teens' hands behind their backs and shoved them into the trunk of a black sedan. One of them took a Polaroid photograph, took out a piece of paper and jogged the two blocks to Ella's home after slamming the trunk lid shut. He laid the developing photo on top of the piece of paper on her front porch and met the car driven by his two team members out front. And they were off, grinning to each other, eager to set in motion they plan they had so carefully concocted.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

A/N: Okay that was the end of my chapter. Yaoza that was long… Review and tell me if you want me to continue please. And if you didn't understand the _Lord of the Rings _stuff, that was kind of the point. I'd like to think Maggie is a Tolkien-ite. Anyway, review please. :D


	2. Henry's Been WHAT?

Disclaimer: Nope. Not gonna say it. You already know.

A/N: So here's the next chapter. That was like totally quicker than I thought it would be… I hope you enjoy this because I probably won't get around to writing much in the next week. School is starting and I don't really know how much work I'm going to have… If I don't have a lot you may get another update this week. ;D We can all hope right? Anyway, here's the next chapter. Not much violence here, but there are some minor cuss words.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Around twenty-five minutes after he left, Jasper pulled back up to the side of the school. Henry was still nowhere to be found, but it didn't bother him. In fact, he preferred him to be late. That meant he and Ella were actually talking. So he waited. However, another twenty minutes later, Jasper was getting tired of waiting, and not to mention a little worried. They had left forty-five minutes ago… Shouldn't Henry have been back by now?

So Jasper pulled out his cell phone and dialed his cousin's number. It rang and rang, but no one picked it up. _Don't worry Jasper_ the boy thought. _Henry doesn't like using his cell phone. _So he called again. Usually Henry picked it up the second time, but that wasn't that case. The call was answered by the automatic female voice of the voicemail. Again, Jasper assured himself this was normal. Well… normal for Henry at any rate. So Jasper decided to call once more.

For the third time, his voicemail picked up for him. "Henry, where are you?" Jasper asked the recording. "You are so late! Dad is going to kill us! I know you don't like answering your cell phone, but seriously dude, call me back." Jasper waited anxiously for another ten minutes but received no call from his cousin. A cold hand gripped his insides, but he pushed down the worry. Like Maggie said, there was always a natural explanation. And Henry was Henry. He was probably fine.

But he decided to call Ella just in case. When she didn't answer, he knew something was wrong. Ella always answered her phone unless she was at some sort of rehearsal, and Jasper knew that wasn't the case. "Hi, Ella," he said. "It's Jasper, I was just wondering if Henry was on his way home yet? I've kind of been waiting for a while and we need to get home. Um, call me when you get this? Thanks. I guess I'll try your home phone." And he hung up.

His finger hovered over the button that would call Ella's home phone. This would either confirm or deny that Henry was in trouble. What kind of trouble, Jasper didn't know, but it was deep enough to not warrant any type of call. But did Jasper really want to know for sure? _Of course I do_ his mind said. _He is my cousin. I need to know if he's all right._ So he dialed. It rang four times before a man picked up. Jasper could only assume that he was Ella's father. "Hello?" the voice said.

"Hi," Jasper said, nervous. "My name is Jasper Bartlett, I don't know if you remember me, I'm used to be really good friends with Ella."

"Hello, Jasper," he said. "I haven't heard from you in a while. How have you been?"

"All right," Jasper replied. "But I'm the reason I'm calling his my cousin, uh, sort of walked Ella home. I was wondering if she was there and if Henry was on his way back."

"Well Ella isn't home yet," her father said. "But they may just be on the porch talking. I can go check if you'd like? And you can stay on the line."

"That would be great." And he waited again, for under a minute and when Ella's father returned, the tone of his voice told Jasper something was terribly wrong.

"Jasper," the man said, "what does your cousin look like? What was he wearing today?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" he asked.

"Please, son," he replied. "Just do it."

"Um, he has light hair. I'm pretty sure he was wearing a red shirt today…" And when he heard the resigned sigh, he knew for a fact something was wrong.

"All right," Ella's dad told him. "You have to listen to me very carefully. I need you to call your father and your uncle. I'm going to call the police and then you need to head over here."

"My uncle's in another country," Jasper said. "Why do you need to call the police?"

"Jasper, your cousin and my daughter have been kidnapped." And Jasper stopped listening. He stopped _breathing_. Henry had been _WHAT?_

**~UH~UH~UH~**

"Hotch," was the first word out of Special Agent Jennifer Jareau's or JJ's mouth as she very nearly barreled into said's office. It was late, nearly time for everyone in the Behavioral Analysis Unit to head home. But JJ couldn't let that happen.

"JJ," Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner said with surprise as the young blonde, blue-eye woman flung herself into his office. "What's the matter?"

"Two teenagers went missing in DC just over two hours ago," she explained to her very professional always-in-as-suit-and-tie supervisor. "One of them is the daughter of a CEO of a huge corporation and the press is having a field day. The local detective called me directly. He needs some serious help." She handed him the small faxed-over file she had received minutes ago giving them the basis of the case. She was mildly surprised to see a small flicker of emotion pass across his usually stony yet handsome face.

"Get the team together," he instructed. "And Garcia." JJ nodded and left her boss's office in a flurry.

Being a part of the BAU for some time, Hotch had seen his fair share of high profile abductions. Normally, he and his team would be called in by the local police in various counties around the country to assist in the capture of a violent serial killer by the use of profiling. The thought of using the killer's past behavior to predict who he would target and what he would do in the future fascinated him and the thought of using that to catch him was even more gratifying. However, they did handle the occasional abduction because profiling worked the same way, just for the victims. Invariably that would lead to finding who had taken them and where they were. The same would work here… he hoped.

Hotch set everything he was working on in his office down and made his way to the room where they would always brief their most recent case. He was not surprised to find he was the first one there, but he was soon joined before long by David Rossi, a middle aged veteran of the BAU. He had retired at one point but a few years ago he came back and was now a member of Hotch's team. His hair and beard were graying betraying his age. He was dressed in a button down dress shirt and jeans. He took his seat around the table set up in the middle of the room without a single word.

Next to enter was Derek Morgan, an African-American man in his late thirties, well-built and fit with his muscles pronounced in his black t-shirt. He was ambitious, athletic and a great profiler. He checked the watch on his left wrist and sighed. He would not be going home to his dog anytime soon. He only hoped that it wouldn't be an out of state case. His go-bag was not exactly ready.

Emily Prentiss followed in after him. Her brunette hair lay straight against her back. She was dressed in a black suit with matching heals and a green buttoned undershirt. Emily was wonderful with children when they arose on their cases. She was extremely patient and amazingly gifted when it came to interrogating suspects. They would always reveal something they had no intention to when they walked in that room before hand.

Spencer Reid walked into the room, rummaging through the messenger bag nearly always slung over his shoulder. He couldn't find what he was looking for so he abandoned his task when he took his seat. Reid did not look like he belonged in the FBI. In fact, as pointed out by someone and himself, he looked like a professor's assistant. Someone even told him he looked like a pipe cleaner with eyes once. His hair was messy and he often wore sweater vests. He was the BAU's young resident genius with an IQ of 184, an eidetic memory and the ability to read 20,000 words a minute. Many didn't understand him, but his colleagues at the BAU knew exactly what he was talking about.

Penelope Garcia followed Reid, though with a confused expression. Being the technical analyst, she usually only involved herself in the tech side of profiling and investigations. She was an experienced hacker and could find the smallest shred of virtual evidence left behind by a killer. Her hair color was subject to change though now it was a bright red that hung in tight curls. Her heals matched her bright blue dress as did the frames of her glasses. She was bubbly and often saw the bright side of things. But she still couldn't fathom why her boss wanted her with them.

JJ was last to enter. As the team's liaison she was the connection between the team, the local police and the media. In her hands were the many copies of the small file she made and without a word she began to pass them out as Hotch began the briefing. "Two teenagers went missing just over two hours ago in DC," he said. "Henry Griffin and Ella Benson. The detective enclosed the ransom note inside the file."

"There's no amount specified," Reid said furrowing his brow, having been the first done with the note. "With most professional kidnappings the amount is set before the kidnapper makes contact with the victim's family. It's unusual for the amount not to be specified."

"It's probably personal," Emily jumped it. "I mean, the note itself is addressed to Craig Benson. Usually you see in kidnappings the note is very general. This isn't."

"But personal because of what?" Rossi asked.

"Well he is a big CEO," Morgan said. "He probably fired a lot of people. Maybe we're looking at a very disgruntled employee."

"Garcia, look at all the company's records," Hotch told her. "Go back at least ten years. Try and find anyone who had a vendetta against the Bensons."

"You guys," Reid said. "If it's only personal against Craig Benson, why'd he take the boy?"

"They," Morgan corrected. Everyone gave him a questioning look and he explained. "Well, he had to subdue two teenagers who I'm almost positive fought back. There has to be at least one other guy there to control both of them."

"Good," Hotch said. "We're looking for a team. As to why they took the boy as well, Garcia, go through all of their records. Try and find any connection between the Griffins and the Bensons. Also, I want you with us on location."

"Okay," she said. "But why?"

"Two children are missing and I don't want the inconvenience of a phone to get in the way of finding them," he explained. "Morgan, help Garcia get the equipment she needs. Everyone else, we're on a ticking clock. Meet at the SUVs in ten minutes. We're two hours late to the game." Everyone at the same time got up from their seat and made their way to the SUVs, leaving Hotch alone in the briefing room staring at the two pictures of the missing children.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Ella groaned. Blood pounded at the base of her spine, creating a dull and annoying thud. She attempted to put a hand to her head but found she couldn't. Confusion swept over her until she remembered exactly what had happened on her way home. The men, the cloth… "Chloroform," she said aloud. "Dammit."

She struggled to see just how her hands were bound and much to her disappointment it was with a zip tie. "Dammit," she cursed again. Her left shoulder hurt from where she was laying on it and she could feel her left hand going numb. However relieved she was to find her ankles were not also bound, the relief was masked by the panic she felt. She was in a tiny enclosed space and the space gave a jerk and she knew exactly where she was: the trunk of a car. "Dammit!"

And suddenly she recalled she was not alone walking home. "Henry," she said aloud. She was facing the entrance to the trunk and even through the dull red light from the taillights she couldn't see him, so she felt around behind her. Her fingers brushed against some sort of fabric and she felt through it his spine. Someone was definitely with her. Whether or not it was Henry remained to be seen. "Hey," she whispered. "Hey, wake up!"

She heard a moan and the voice ask groggily, "Where am I?"

"Henry?" she asked. "Henry is that you?"

"Ella?" the voice asked in response. "Yeah it's me." He was more alert now and she could hear him try and move around. "Where are we? Why does my head hurt?"

"Well, as far as I can tell," she said, "we are in the trunk of a car. The only reason I can think of is we've been kidnapped. As for your head… there was probably chloroform on that rag used to knock you out. It could have been ether, but that's really old school and no one uses that anymore."

He was silent for a moment and then said, "You know weirdly that doesn't really make me feel any better."

"Well sorry," she replied. "But I don't really know much else." She could hear him straining against his bonds and she stopped him before he could hurt himself. "Knock it off. You're not going to be able to break that. It's a zip tie. We need something to cut it with if we want to get out of here."

"Well then there has to be something in here we can use to cut it." His hands moved around behind him in search of something, anything to cut his bonds with.

"Get your hand away from my butt," Ella snapped, "or I will cut it off."

His hand quickly moved away as he apologized profusely. Suddenly he stopped. "You know what? I have a knife in my pocket."

"And you couldn't have thought of that before you copped a feel?" she asked.

"That was an accident, okay?" he said. "But it's in my front pocket so I can't reach it."

"Well come up with a plan genius, sometime before I turn eighty."

He was silent for a moment in thought. Finally, after another serious bump in the road, he said, "Okay, I'm going to try and roll over. When I do, you can get into my pocket to get the knife. Then I'll cut you free and then you can cut me free."

"I swear if you cut my finger off-" she began.

"I'm not going to cut your finger off," Henry said straining to roll onto his other side. When he had finally flipped he said, "Have a little faith."

"Faith is the last thing I have right now," Ella muttered to herself.

"Hey," Henry said gently, "we're going to get out of here. It's going to be okay."

"If you say so," she mumbled. And without warning she searched for Henry's pocket knife.

When she found it, she said so and Henry flipped around again, this time with a little more skill. He found her hands and took the knife from her. It was easier to cut than Henry thought it would be and in seconds Ella was free. Without a word, she flipped over took the knife from him and cut his bonds as well. They both flipped to lie on their back and Ella rubbed her wrists. "Are you okay?" Henry asked. "Your wrists I mean."

"Fine," she replied. "They're a little cut up, but nothing I can't handle."

"Let me see," he said.

He reached out and took her wrist. As his thumb brushed one of the cuts made by the zip tie, she jerked away and said, "Ouch, dammit."

"Sorry," he apologized, but didn't let go of her wrist. He analyzed them, then said, "I think they'll be okay." Accidently he touched a cut again.

"Dammit!" she cursed. "Stop doing that!"

"Do you just enjoy cursing?" Henry asked.

"Yes, actually, I do," she replied. "I find it's very soothing and therapeutic."

"Meditating does the same thing," Henry replied. "And it's less violent."

She looked at him through the dim light and blinked. "I'll stick to cursing." Suddenly the car gave a sharp jerk and both the teens hit their heads on the top of the trunk. "Dammit!" she shouted.

"Okay, that one I agree with," Henry said. "I'm going to kill Jasper. Do you even know why he made me go with you? He totally could have driven you."

"Uh," Ella said guiltily. "I actually kind of know why… I lied before when I said I didn't. Jasper was kind of trying to set you and me up on a date. He's under the impression that you haven't been on a date in your life."

"Now I'm really going to kill him," Henry said after another silence.

"I went along with it," Ella said. "Does that mean you're going to kill me too?"

"No," Henry said. "I think I should know someone at least a month before I have the right to think I should kill them. Jasper's my cousin. I've known you for a week."

"Well, am I glad we cleared that one up," Ella replied sarcastically. "Oh my God."

"What?"

"I'm in the trunk of a car being kidnapped with someone I've known for a week and I'm making jokes…" she said. "There is something seriously wrong with me."

"Maybe it's also therapeutic," Henry suggested.

She gave a small smile and they sat in silence for a minute or two. Then Ella asked, "What are we going to do once they stop and try and get us out?"

"Well I guess," Henry started. "I guess I could try and take them out and you run for it and try and get help."

"No," she said immediately. "I'm not leaving you behind."

"Yes you are," he said. "Trust me. I can handle myself. You said it yourself remember? You can't fight. I can. We both have a better chance to get out of this mess if I can give you time to run for it."

She thought and debated for a moment. When she finally came to a decision, she replied softly, "Okay. But try not to get hurt."

"I'll do my best," Henry replied. Moments later, as it were timed, the car began to slow down.

"You think we're stopping?" Ella asked nervously. Her answer came when the car came to a full stop.

"Remember what I told you," Henry said. He lightly squeezed her hand in reassurance and she swallowed hard as the trunk door slowly began to open.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

A/N: Mwhahahahahahahahahah- *coughs* Sorry. But I am just so evil leaving it there. :DDD Review people! I enjoy hearing your thoughts. And I'm sorry for the major exposition of the characters, but I know that there are readers out there who don't watch Criminal Minds so I had explain the characters and what not.


	3. Severe Annoyance

Disclaimer: Why do I have to keep saying it, huh?

A/N: Okay, so I'm sorry for the long-ish wait. I've had an annoying amount of school work this past week which is astonishing considering it's only the first day back. But I've got this one and I have a lot of the major scenes written. The problem arises when I have to write the not as interesting but still essential in between… But I will! And I hope that it won't take a week to get the next chapter up. :D We can hope right? But when I get reviews, it inspires me to write quicker! Hahaha. Just kidding. But seriously, I do enjoy your reviews and I want to thank those who have already reviewed. I appreciate it! And without further ado, the next chapter!

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Garcia popped open her laptop and allowed it to load before she began to search for information on the two missing children. Next to her sat Reid in the backseat. In the front were Hotch and Morgan, Hotch in the driver's seat, intently focused on the road. Rossi, Emily and JJ were in the SUV behind them. Morgan took out his cell phone and dialed Emily's number.

"Yeah, you've got us," she said on the other line. Morgan put her on speaker.

"What have you got, baby girl?" he asked, using his playful nickname for her.

"My chocolate God," she replied with a smirk. "I have got tons. Where would you like me to start?"

Hotch ignored the exchanged. It happened all the time. Instead he jumped right in. "Start with the Bensons."

"Okay," she replied, her finger's flying over the keys at lightning speed. "Craig Benson is the CEO of a huge corporation in DC, followed in his father's footsteps, how fitting. Normal deposits in and out of his bank accounts. Oh what I wouldn't give for his credit score. Damn. Uh, he married Martha Grant when he was twenty eight. Had a son two years later. His name is Andrew. Six years after that, they had little Ella on January 12, 1994 and then eleven years after that… Oh. That's interesting."

"What?" Reid asked.

"The son's name _was_Andrew," she corrected. "He died in a house fire when he was seventeen. Apparently, a wire shorted out in the wall. He got out but the poor thing was hit with flying debris when the kitchen exploded. Yep, there's the death certificate. Not long after that the Bensons got a divorce. Martha now gets Ella every other weekend. Or at least that was the custody agreement. As far as Ella herself goes, she's a pretty stand up student, a talented thespian, nothing really to speak of."

"That doesn't help at all," Morgan said.

"Well the information superhighway goes farther than that," she replied. "We still have one more family to look at."

"The Griffins," Reid said softly to himself, while gazing out of the window.

"Exactomundo, my little genius," Garcia said. "Zafer Griffin and his wife Rosemary Bartlett got married when they were just twenty-one. Both got their degrees for Anthropology at a community college here in DC. As far as I can tell they studied abroad for about eight years and then flew back to the good old US of A to have their son, Henry. They lived with Rosemary's brother Bryan and his wife and son for about six months then headed out to Peru. They flew from place to place for their studies with their son. I don't have them back in the US until Henry was twelve and even then they stayed for about a month for their nephew's twelfth birthday and left soon after."

"So how did Henry get here?" Rossi asked impatiently from his car over the phone.

"Slow down, sugar, I'm getting there," she said with a smile. "Around four months ago Mr. and Mrs. Griffin sent their son to live with his uncle and cousin, Jasper. Apparently, Henry was getting himself into some kind of trouble and they were trying to keep him safe."

"Well that backfired," JJ said cynically.

"Oh the sense of irony will not be lost on them I'm sure," Garcia replied. "Especially when they hear what he's been up to," she continued curiously tapping the keys.

"Why do you say that?" Emily asked.

"Man, this kid is like a James Bond in the making," Garcia said skimming through various articles of the local and school newspapers. "Okay, so get this, he and his cousin managed to bring in two rogue FBI agents and foil a massive fraud scheme that would have cost the country billions of dollars."

"You guys, maybe we're looking at the wrong kid," Reid suggested. "Maybe it's someone connected to Henry."

"Uh, well," Garcia interjected. "Why would the kidnappers send the note to the girl's father if it was about the boy?" The car was silent and Garcia apologized. "Sorry. I mean, it was only a suggestion."

"No you're right, baby," Morgan said, a pensive look on his face. "If it were about the boy they would have given the note to the boy's uncle at the very least. They didn't even contact them at all. It doesn't fit."

"Is there any connection between the two at all?" Emily asked.

"Not that I can see sweetie pie," Garcia said. "They lead totally different lives, and as far as I can tell tonight was the first time they met… Oh wait!" she said, causing everyone's hope to be restored. "Jasper, Henry's cousin has been going to the same school as Ella since kindergarten and as far I can tell they've had at least once class together since then."

"Maybe that's our connection," JJ said.

"Well, that doesn't make much sense either," Rossi said.

"Why?" Garcia asked.

"Because if that was the connection, why didn't they just take Jasper Bartlett?" he pointed out. "It doesn't fit."

"Maybe he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," Morgan suggested. "We can't find any connection between the two kids and the note was delivered to Craig Benson. I think our best bet to find them would be to profile him and dig deeper into his past."

"Morgan's right," Hotch said. "Garcia focus on the Benson's past. Go through everything. If one single person has a vendetta against him, I want to know about it."

"You got it, boss man," Garcia replied as they pulled into the Benson's drive.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

The trunk slowly opened and before the person opening it could get a clear view of his captives, Henry threw himself at the man. He gave a strangled yelp of surprise as Henry threw the first punch. As soon as he was out of the way, Henry shouted, "Run NOW!"

Ella scrambled out of the car and tried to regain her balance as she stumbled clumsily and frantically away. She didn't see Henry was now trying to fight off three men at once, all of whom were very skilled in the martial arts. He was quickly tiring and soon one of them had grabbed his arm, twisted it and pinned him to the dirt road next to the car. "What are you waiting for?" the man atop him asked. "Go get her!"

Henry watched helplessly as the two other men ran at a faster sprint than Ella could ever hope to have run and they caught up with her in no time at all. They carried her back kicking and screaming, but unable to get away.

The man picked him up and Henry thought that maybe he could wrench his hand away, but when the other was in the firm grip of his kidnapper, that hope was quickly dashed. Henry then finally got to look around at exactly where they were. It was in the middle of the forest. There was nothing around except trees and a small cabin. The only road was the dirt one they had come up on and no one was around to hear them scream…

**~UH~UH~UH~**

As the group of various FBI agents entered the house, they saw a command center was already in the making. The flashing lights of the emergency vehicles attracted the attention of the neighbors who were curiously being turned away from the commotion. Police officers were running back and forth trying to carry out various tasks set for them to do. The head detective appeared from the sea of people and introduced himself.

He then proceeded to point out people of interest: the two Bensons, Bryan Bartlett, and his son, among other detectives and the center of the command center in the dining room. When the detective was finished, Hotch took over. He introduced his team and then handed out assignments. "Rossi, Reid, I want you both to talk to the Bensons. I'll be there in a few minutes to brief them on the phone call. Prentiss, talk to Bryan Bartlett. Figure out when the boy's parents are going to get here, anything like that. When they come in, talk to them as well. In the meantime, Morgan, go with the detective and get familiar with all the information they have right now. JJ and I will issue a formal statement with the press. Garcia-"

"Dig up information," she finished, knowing where he was going.

"No," he said and her head snapped up. Everyone was at full attention now. "I want you to talk to Jasper Bartlett."

"Uh, uh no offense, sir," Garcia stuttered. "But I don't really think that I'm qualified. And like shouldn't you guys do things like this?"

"Penelope," Hotch said and she immediately stopped talking. "You said he was into computers. So are you. He'll relate to you more. And I trust you. You'll be fine."

"Oh, oh, okay," Garcia said glancing down the hall. Amongst the people running back and forth, she saw a boy sitting on a chair with his head in his hands. She sighed and decided it wouldn't get any better or easier if she stood there for a few more minutes and just thought about talking to him. So she walked over until she was standing above him.

"Hey," she said. The boy looked up. "My name's Penelope Garcia. I work with the FBI."

He blinked as she sat down on the chair beside him. "No offense, but you don't really look like an FBI agent."

"Well, I didn't really say I was an agent," Garcia corrected. "I'm a technical analyst."

He nodded slowly, still confused. "Do they normally let technical analysts interview witnesses over at the FBI?" he asked.

"Not normally," she said. "But I work with profilers and they usually pair interviewers up with a witness they can get the most information from. And they know you're really into computers and so am I so they figured I would be best to talk to you. With profilers you can never tell."

"Oh well it figures the government would know all of this," Jasper muttered. "Whatever, what do you want to know?"

"First I guess is what you can tell me about your cousin and Ella," Garcia began, making this up as she went along. If she failed to gather an important fact, she could always come back later. It wasn't like the boy was going anywhere.

"Henry's…" Jasper began, but failed to find the correct words. "Henry's kind of… well, no he is a freak. And I mean that in the most loveable way possible because he is my cousin. And Ella is like the sweetest girl on the planet. I think I've only seen her be mean to like two people and they truly and honestly deserved it."

"Do have any idea who would want to hurt Ella?" was her next question.

"Not a clue," Jasper replied. "Like I said, she's like the sweetest girl you could ever meet."

"When's the last time you saw both of them?" Garcia asked.

"Only like three hours ago," Jasper replied.

"What happened?"

"Well, Ella was walking out of rehearsal with Henry. He had forgotten something in his locker and went back to get it. Ella said she had to walk home and I told Henry to go with her. I didn't want anything to happen to her. I guess that backfired," Jasper muttered darkly.

"There was nothing you could have done," Garcia said. "We have evidence to believe that they had been planning this for weeks," she lied. But was it a lie if that's what the profile suggested? It wasn't concrete fact, that's for sure. "If they didn't take her tonight, they would have done it another night." He nodded and Garcia asked another question. "What happened after that?"

"I waited for like an hour," Jasper began again, "and when Henry wasn't back I called him. He didn't answer, which wasn't that odd."

"Why?"

"Henry doesn't like using his cell phone," Jasper replied. "I'm not too sure he even knows how to use it."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well he got a text message one time and he couldn't read it, so he assumed it was broken," Jasper explained. "And then he threw it in the garbage." Garcia smiled at that. "Remember when I said Henry was a freak? Well it's because he grew up in like Nowhere Asia his whole life. He knows like eight different martial arts and can do weird bird calls and… he sleeps in a hammock he made himself, even though there's a perfectly good bed right next to it. He's completely pop culture ignorant. If I make a reference it just goes right over his head… I can't stand it sometimes." Garcia couldn't help but chuckle. It was almost like hanging out with Reid… except for the martial arts and bird calls thing.

"Yeah I know someone kind of like that," she said. "He can be handful sometimes. So, he didn't answer his cell phone?"

"No," he said. "And he didn't answer the two other times after that either so I called Ella. And when she didn't answer… I knew something was wrong."

"Is that unusual?"

"Yes," Jasper said without hesitation. "She always answers unless she's at rehearsal. And I knew she wasn't. So I called her house and her dad answered. He said he hadn't seen them and Ella wasn't home yet. He went to go check the porch, but he found the note and a picture and told me Henry had been kidnapped. I got my dad and we've been here ever since."

"Okay," Garcia said.

"Are we going to find them?" Jasper asked, catching Garcia off-guard. It shouldn't have. It was a normal question, but Garcia didn't really know how to answer. So she made something up.

"This team is the best at what they do," she said. "If anyone can find them, it's this team."

"That was an evasive answer," Jasper said and apparently Garcia couldn't hide her surprise. "I may be a kid to you, but I'm not stupid. Please don't do that. My dad's doing it, everyone I've talked to is doing it. I just need a definitive answer. Are you going to find them?"

Garcia sighed. "I know we're going to find them," she said. "But I don't know in what state. But I'll tell you what. What I said before about this team, that's true. And they will do everything they can to find your cousin and friend. I know they will. And they won't give up. So you can't either."

Jasper was silent for a moment and finally he replied, "Thank you… for being honest for once."

"You're welcome," she said. "I actually have to go back to work. If you think of anything else that might help, come and talk to me all right?" He nodded and Garcia walked off. Before she entered the dining room where everything was being set up, she spared on last glance at the boy who was once again sitting with his head in his hands, staring blankly at the floor.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

"We're in a basement," Henry said through the moonlit darkness.

"Oh thanks, Sherlock," Ella said sarcastically. "And how did you reach that conclusion. Maybe the stairs they dragged us down. That could be a real big hint right there."

"No," he said. "This window. You can see the ground and the moon. But it's not enough for us to climb through."

"Even if it was, it's barred," Ella said. "And where would we go? Into the woods? Yeah right. I'd rather be here, and that's saying something." Their prison was indeed a basement with concrete walls and floor. The door might as well have been a stone slab with a doorknob. Their only source of light was the moon from the window and the light bulb on the ceiling high above them. But it was useless without the switch, which just had to be on the other side of the door.

Ella didn't like the dark at the best of times, but this made shivers run down her spine. Every noise was amplified, every sensation intensified and Ella willed the sun to come up. But she knew that would not be happening for hours. She heard the rustle of clothing and knew Henry had moved from his spot. But when she looked over to him, she very nearly laughed upon seeing him on his head.

"What are you doing?" she asked, puzzled.

"Meditating," he replied, closing his eyes, which Ella was stunned to realize she could see even in the dim light.

"On your head?" she asked. "I thought meditating was like sitting with your legs crossed going "Ohmm… Ohmm…" she imitated comically.

"That," he said, "is a form of Buddhist meditation. This is a form of Taoist meditation."

"Taoist?" she asked.

"Yes. It's a-"

But she interrupted him with an annoyed snap. "Oh, I know what Taoism is. I took Ancient Religions."

"Technically it's not a religion," Henry pointed out. And Ella rolled her eyes. This boy was already getting on her nerves and it hadn't been five minutes. Now she knew what Jasper was talking about when he said Henry could really be a severe annoyance. "It's a philosophy."

"Whatever," she said. "I just didn't know people practiced it."

"Some small villages in China still do," he answered.

"Outstanding," she muttered. "I'm sharing a cell with a mediating Taoist-"

"Uh," he said interrupted. "I did not say I was Taoist. I said I was performing a form of Taoist meditation. That does not make me Taoist."

"Oh my bad," she said sarcastically.

"It's okay," Henry said and she stared at him. "What?" he asked.

"Is sarcasm a foreign language to you?" she questioned shaking her head.

"No," Henry answered contorting his body in a miraculous way before continuing. "I was always taught that you mean what you say and you say what you mean and using sarcasm is just a way for one to express how they really feel with the words they want to use."

"Oh, okay, _Horton_," she replied.

"What?" Henry asked, this time, giving up on meditation. He flipped back so he was on his feet and waited for Ella's response.

"Oh please tell me you've heard of Dr. Seuss," she pleaded. If this kid hadn't…. Oh man, this was going to be a nightmare.

"Maybe," Henry said. "What field does he practice in?"

Ella blinked. He had to be joking. He just _had_ to be… But the serious look on his face told Ella he wasn't, and she was absolutely astounded. "Your parents never read you Dr. Seuss." He still looked totally confused. "'I meant what I said and I said what I meant and an elephant is faithful one hundred percent.' Nothing…" He made no sign of recognition. "'This cat should not be here. He should not be about. He should not be here when your mother is out.' 'One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish.' 'I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them Sam-I-Am.'"

Henry was silent for a moment, as if trying to decipher what she had actually spouted off. Then he replied, "Okay first of all, I have never once in my life seen green eggs or ham. And if I did, I would not eat them because they would either have gone bad or have been poisoned."

"You're kidding me right?" she asked blandly.

"No," Henry said.

"How… how is that possible?" she stuttered. "How can _every __**single **_pop culture reference go right over your head? Even Sherlock Holmes, the world's greatest detective! 221 B-Baker's Street. 'Elementary, my dear Watson'."

"You're the one not making sense right now," Henry said.

"Oh my GOD!" she shouted. "How on God's green earth has Jasper not killed you yet? How is that possible?" She turned and looked towards the ceiling. "Is this some twisted form of torture? Trapping me in here with this-this…whatever he is and forcing me to listen to him?"

"These are concrete walls," Henry said, clearly not understanding a thing she was shouting. That or not bothering to comprehend why she was shouting these things. "They can't hear you. And who is Dr. Seuss?"

"You have got to be kidding me," she whispered to herself, rubbing the bridge of her nose. She could feel a headache coming on and if she didn't stop now, she would most probably kill him. "Okay, I am going to spell this out for you, okay?" she said slowly. "Dr. Seuss is not an actual doctor. He's a children's book author who likes rhyming. Okay?"

"But that's stupid," Henry said and Ella tossed her hands into the air. "Rhyming, what's the point of that?"

"There doesn't need to be a point!" she shrieked. "They're for three year olds! Three year olds don't need a point to a five page book!" Before she could shout any words more colorful than that, she calmed herself and took a deep breath. She forced a smile up and said, "Okay, you just stay-stay over there, okay," and she gestured to the corner he was already standing in, "and Taoism or Buddhism or-or-or Confucianism it up over there, all right? Okay, and I'm going to go into that corner," she gestured to the corner opposite Henry, "and think of reasons why not to commit suicide. All right? And when that fails, I'll come up with ten ways to kill myself with just my shirt. Okay? Awesome." And she turned away from him.

Henry was still horribly confused and was still trying to attempt to comprehend where they conversation had gone. He moved after her saying, "I still don't get it!"

**~UH~UH~UH~**

A/N: Tada! And that would be the end of this chapter! I thought it would be good to get some humor in there before we get into the majorly serious and angsty chapters where people get hurt and what not. :D It works though, no? Anyway, review if you want pwease! I enjoy them. :D And I promise I will do my best to get the next chapter up as soon as I can. :D


	4. Bonding

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. Except Ella. She is mine. :D

A/N: Okay, so this was way quicker than I thought it would go. And I'm fairly certain I know exactly what I want to do next chapter. But I can't promise that right away. School is really kicking back in and if I get cast in the school play… No updates for a while. Sorry guys. But let's hope I can do some over the weekends and what not. But I have this chapter right now. :D So be happy.

Review my lovelies. I enjoy them. And enjoy this chapter! Sorry there isn't any BAU here… I didn't think about that until now… But there will be some in the next one. They are important in the next one. That's for sure. ;D And we may just meet our kidnappers! Okay, I'm done with the world's longest author's note. And I apologize for the really lame chapter title... I couldn't come up with anything better...

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Jasper hadn't moved from his spot since the FBI lady had left him. His mind was whirring with possibilities of what could happen to Henry and Ella, each worse than the next. He would never be able to live with himself if something seriously bad happened to them… like death. Just the word sent shivers up his spine. And the thought it could happen to either of them without a moment's notice? That was worse…

He had already called and been basically interrogated by Maggie. She was on her way over twenty minutes ago, but he didn't know how long it would take, or even if the FBI and police would let her in. He was going to find out soon enough he supposed.

And soon enough it was. Literally five seconds after Jasper had this thought, Maggie came tearing in with her father close behind. "Oh my God, Jasper," she said. He stood and gave her a tight hug. "Have you heard anything yet? Are they all right?" She fired off more questions, but Jasper didn't have time to process them all.

Instead he only answered her first two. "No. The note said they would call at midnight. In case you hadn't noticed, it's just past ten. We don't know if they're all right. I hope they are, but I guess we won't know until the kidnappers call."

She sighed. "I just… That's it?"

"Unfortunately," he said. "Hello, Colonel Winnock."

"Hey, Jasper," Maggie's father replied. "How are you holding up?"

"Okay, I suppose," he answered. "But I'm not the one who's been kidnapped, sir."

"Very true," he said. He then addressed his daughter. "I'm going to head home. If you need to be picked up, give me a call all right? Stay safe and keep me updated."

"I will, Dad," Maggie replied. "Say goodnight to Mom for me."

"Will do," he said, kissing her lightly on the head. "Bye, Jasper."

"Goodbye, sir." And Colonel Winnock left through the fields of police officers.

"Jasper," Maggie said softly. "Are they going to be okay?"

"I don't know Mags," Jasper said. "I just don't know…"

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Nothing had been said in at least an hour. Or what Henry guessed was an hour. It was really hard to tell without a watch and his limited view of the moon. But after a heated debate on whatever pop culture references he didn't understand, Ella had refused to say anything to him. So they sat in silence, each soon absorbing themselves in their own thoughts.

Henry was leaning against the wall to the left side of the window, gazing out into the dark night. Occasionally, his eyes would flick over to Ella when she shifted positions, but would always return to gazing off into the outer world beyond. But Ella hadn't moved in a while, so Henry decided it would be okay to glance at her.

She was seated with her back leaning against the wall adjacent to him. Her arms were propped up on her knees which were slightly elevated and both were supporting her head. Her eyes were glazed over and distant, staring at the ground but not actually seeing anything. The glimmer that had lain there when she was singing on stage was gone, replaced with a dull glow that made Henry think terribly of hopelessness. Her beautiful face was expressionless, void of any emotion, hiding what she was truly thinking, and Henry felt the peculiar desire to know exactly what that was. He tilted his chin as he studied her and attempted to decipher what was running through her mind.

Two seconds, if that, later, he saw a flicker of emotion pass across her features and she closed her eyes. Much to Henry's surprise, he saw a single tear fall down her cheek. Even more to his surprise he felt the yearning to wipe it away and never see anything of the sort mar her features again. Instead of giving into his bizarre longing he simply asked, "Are you okay, Ella?"

She gasped, not realizing Henry had been watching her and quickly wiped the tear away. "What a stupid question…" she muttered."Of course I'm not all right."

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "What I mean to ask was, what's the matter?"

"Oh well," she said. "Where do I start? How about with the fact that we don't know who those men upstairs are much less what they want with us! We could be a part of some crazy revenge scheme or some ransom nightmare or a public statement or hell, we could be the victims of psychopaths who just want to torture us into insanity and then kill us without a second thought! We don't even know if they're looking for us!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Henry said vacating his spot and relocating to where Ella sat. "Of course they're looking for us. And they're going to find us." He tried to make eye contact with her, but she averted his gaze, though not well enough to hide the tears that welled in her eyes.

"You don't know that," she said shaking her head. "You can't know that."

He gently touched her chin and moved it to face him. Ignoring the strange but pleasant tingling he felt in his fingers, he said, "But you have to hope in something. There is one thing that those men, no matter what they do, no matter how much they hurt us, cannot take away."

"What's that?" she asked as he dropped his hand. She kept eye contact and he smiled.

"Your faith," he replied simply. "Your hope that you have in the people on the outside. No matter what they do, you can still keep that faith. And it's the most powerful thing you can have."

She sighed and looked away and Henry had to admit, he died a little inside. "You're right," she said. Her eyes met his again and she gave a small smile. "Thanks Henry."

He smiled back and said, "Your welcome." Again, she sighed and laid down with her feet pointed towards Henry. "What are you doing?" he asked with a confused and slightly amused expression.

"My back is killing me," she replied. "I just need to stretch it out."

"Okay," he said, deciding to lie down next to her. Both looked up at the concrete ceiling that seemed so far away and Henry closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was calming and it relaxed him.

"Can I ask you a question?" Ella said through the silence.

"That would be pretty redundant, but okay," Henry replied smartly. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her give a sort of lopsided smile. He fought off a grin of his own and listened to what she asked.

"Why does Jasper think you need help getting a date?" she asked. Henry had honestly been expecting anything but that. Not one person had asked about his romantic life since he had gotten to the states. No one, not even Jasper. They just assumed things. But he quickly gathered his thoughts.

"Well most people here in the good ol' US of A like Jasper are under the incorrect impression that there are no girls in other parts of the world," he replied. "Which of course is ridiculous."

She chuckled, but asked another question. "Have you had a girlfriend before?" Again, Henry had been expecting anything but that, however the question before should have tipped him off.

He could have simply said yes. But were those girls actually considered "girlfriends"? So he replied, "I guess that's what you could call them."

"What the hell does that mean?" she asked wrinkling her nose. "It's a simple question. Did you have a girlfriend or not."

"Well, it's not really that simple of a question," he retorted. "I mean, I don't really think we were together long enough to be considered dating, but that's just me. It all depends on perception."

"What was her name?" she asked.

Henry in all honesty was not comfortable talking about this particular subject, but pressed on anyway. Yes he remembered her name. Marion was her name, which was exceedingly English and odd considering she lived in Ireland. But he didn't tell Ella that. Instead he replied politely but curtly, "That is absolutely none of your business."

"Okay, okay," she said folding her hands over her stomach. "No need to snap. It was just a question. "Am I allowed to ask where and when at least?"

Henry sighed. He might as well. No one had asked before and he was kind of glad someone was, even subconsciously. "About two weeks before my fifteenth birthday, my parents said that they were taking a month off and we could go anywhere in the world I wanted to for a vacation. So I chose the Irish country side."

"Why?"

"It was the one place that I always wanted to go and we never did," Henry answered. "The serenity and coastline always appealed to me. So we stayed in a small village at least 20 miles outside any major metropolis. And I met a girl."

"Did you kiss her?" was the next question.

"Yeah," he said while nodding. He was aware of Ella's gaze on him and for once he was thankful for them dim light. That way she couldn't see the red creep up on his cheeks. "But after the month was up, I never saw her again." There was another girl after her in Australia, but she didn't ask, so Henry didn't tell. But he found he had the odd sensation that he wanted to know about who she had dated.

"What about you?" he asked. "Who have you dated?"

Ella sighed. "Well, the first guy was at the beginning of eighth grade," she began. "Eric Sanders, and he was a douche." Henry had to bite his tongue to avoid laughing out loud.

"Why do you say that?" he asked.

"Because he was," she replied. Henry didn't think she would expand, but… he had been wrong before. "I have this rule where I don't kiss guys I haven't known or dated for at least three weeks. Eric was not too pleased, so he decided he would go and kiss someone else. Needless to say I kicked his sorry as to the curb. But he no longer goes to our school. He lives in like Nebraska now or something. I don't know. I don't care. But as for my first kiss well, would you believe it was with Jasper?" For the third time in less than ten minutes, Henry had been expecting anything but. He knew they had dated briefly from what Maggie and Jasper had been arguing about the week before, but he didn't really know how serious they were… until now.

"Uh," Henry said. "Would you be surprised if I said no?"

She chuckled. "Not at all."

"What happened between you and him?" he asked casually. He didn't want to seem stalker-ish but he wanted to know exactly what had happened between his cousin and the girl lying next to him. "I mean, why aren't you two still a couple?"

"Oh," she sighed, "It's a long and extremely complicated story."

"Well, we're not exactly going anywhere any time soon," Henry pointed out.

"Good point," she said. He turned to look at her as she shifted beside him. Now, she was on her side with her head lying gently on her arm folded underneath her facing him. Henry didn't turn his body, but faced his head toward her, showing he was listening intently. "Okay, well he asked me out near the end of eighth grade and I sort of had mixed emotions about it. But the more I thought about the reasons I shouldn't date him, the more those reasons became the reasons I should. You know?"

"I think so…" Henry replied, but in reality his head was spinning. "But if you could give an example…"

"Okay," she said. "Well, like I had known him forever. And I thought that would be a reason not to date him. But the more I thought about it, the more it made more sense for me to date someone like that because I already know I can get along with that person. Does that make more sense?"

"Yes," he replied, this time in full understanding. "Go on."

"Okay, so I said yes," she continued. "And he knew about my rule about not kissing and he was really sweet about it and we waited until about a month after we actually started going out. I started to feel… weird about it after the first kiss. And I'm not saying it was bad. It wasn't a bad kiss. It was actually a really good kiss in hindsight, but you probably didn't need to know that."

"Not really," Henry replied. The thought of his cousin kissing made him want to gag… and not much did these days. Thankfully he was not allowed to dwell on the topic.

"Okay, so it wasn't a bad kiss, but it was awkward. I don't know how to describe it other than that. And at first I thought it was just the first kiss and blah blah blah, but I felt it again and again and after another month I felt really weird about it and I didn't know why. Thank God Jasper was the one to come and talk to me about it and I found out he felt the same way and that's when it hit me. I felt like Jasper was more like a brother to me than a boyfriend."

"Well, I mean it's obvious he still cares about you," Henry said remembering vividly the look on Jasper's face when he thought she had been in a car accident.

"And I'm not saying I don't care about him," she said. "I mean, I loved Jasper. I still do, but less like a lover- that was completely the wrong word to use- or a boyfriend and more like a brother. Like I feel Jasper would do things for me like my own brother would. Like be there to take care of me if I was having a problem or be the first in line to beat a guy up because he hurt me, like that kind of love. And like he said, we mutually decided to break up because of it and after we didn't really hang out as much which was kind of a disappointment, but what can you do? But there were a whole bunch of crazy rumors going around about how we ended up breaking up."

"Like what?" he asked curiously.

"Oh gosh, where to begin?" she asked herself with a sigh. "Um well, there was one going around that we broke up because Jasper cheated on me. And then there was one where we broke up because I cheated on him. Apparently, I made out with Roy Davis on the soccer field according to everyone else… I have no recollection of any such event, but I don't know," she shrugged sarcastically and Henry actually found himself chuckled. "Oh! And this is the best one. Apparently, we had a huge fight and Jasper hit me-" Henry very nearly snorted in surprise. Jasper would never hit _anyone_ never mind a girl he was dating.

"Why would anyone think that?" he found himself asking.

"I have no idea," Ella said. "But I guess it stemmed from the fact for three days after we 'broke up'," she said in air quotes, "I stayed home with the flu and everyone was under the impression it was because I had to hide my black eye. It was honestly the dumbest thing I have ever heard."

"I would have to agree," Henry said. Why did people ever start rumors? None of them were true. At least, almost none of them. But that was hardly the point. Rumors made absolutely no sense to Henry and he didn't pretend to understand. He didn't think he wanted to understand.

"You know, you almost made me forget we've been kidnapped and are lying in the dark in a basement," Ella said softly.

"You're welcome…?" Henry said, unsure if it was a compliment or a reprimand.

"I was saying thank you, doofus," she said nudging his arm with her elbow playfully. "It distracted me for a minute from the paralyzing darkness."

"Oh don't tell me you're afraid of the dark," Henry said both as a joke, but seriously as well.

"It's not the dark itself," she said in almost a whisper and Henry was suddenly intrigued. They were getting into far more personal territories when it came to fears. "It's more of the unknown that comes with the darkness. You don't know what's there, or what could happen…" She left the air hanging between them silent and heavy, until she spoke again. "What are you afraid of?"

Henry sighed, trying to think of how exactly to word his unnatural and intangible fear. "Death," he said. "But not in the traditional way. I don't fear dying itself. I guess it's more the abandonment that comes along with death."

"So you fear abandonment," Ella said, and Henry could tell she was trying to get a grip on a fear he didn't even fully understand himself. But that wasn't it.

"No," he said. "I think I fear abandoning the people I love… care about," he continued. "It's complicated. But the thought of leaving them behind with nothing… That scares me the most…" Henry was shocked with himself. He had never shared any of this information before, let alone with someone he had known less than a week. But for some bizarre reason, he trusted this girl, and she trusted him with what she feared.

"How do you do it?" Ella asked.

"Do what?" Henry wondered, confused.

"Hide your fear so well," she stated.

"I…" Henry didn't know how to answer that. How did he manage to? He thought back to all the times he had nearly died (and there were many) and tried to remember exactly what he was thinking in those moments. "I guess, it's not hiding the fear. It's pushing through it is more of what I do. There's a quote: "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the-"

"-judgment that there are things more important than fear," Ella continued softly. "I guess you're right."

Her head turned and she searched the ceiling, as if looking for answers. "But I'll tell you what," Henry said, gently taking her hand in his own. "We can both be scared together, without having to hide it from anyone else."

She intertwined her fingers with his. "Okay," she whispered, making eye contact with him.

Henry gave a small smile. "Okay." He felt her shift beside him and lay her head on his shoulder. There was a pleasant tingle in the pit of his stomach as he gently laid his cheek against her head.

"Hey Henry?" she said.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks," she said softly.

He couldn't help but smile softly. "You're welcome, Ella."

**~UH~UH~UH~**

A/N: Now wasn't that the cutest thing you have ever read? Okay, not really. But it was pretty darn cute if I do say so myself. And they're bonding! Which is highly important for what happens later. Plot development! YAY! Okay, as I said before I don't know when the next chapter will be up. Hopefully soon… Anyway, review my wonderful readers! I bid thee all farewell. (Oh my gosh I have to stop reading Shakespeare…)


	5. The Phone Call

Disclaimer: Nope. Nothing's mine.

WARNING: There is some violence in this chapter, please be aware.

A/N: I know, I know. That took forever. But life is a hell of a thing to happen to a person. All right, so this chapter is pretty long and pretty entertaining if I do say so myself… Though I find torturing my favorite characters to be entertainment (is that scary?) Never mind. Don't answer that. Anywho, moving on. Review my lovely people and be sure to let me know what you guys think. :D

**~UH~UH~UH~**

As midnight drew ever closer, the movement around the Benson House slowed. Less people came in or out. Everyone would speak in hushed whispers anticipating the upcoming phone call from the kidnappers. Hotch had already spoken to the father and the mother explaining exactly how to handle this. Keep the phone call focused on the kids. That was SOP. It was easier to get through to the kidnappers that way, instead of threatening them, which could very well be what they wanted.

He also had spoken to the boy's uncle. Mr. and Mrs. Griffin would be arriving shortly after one o'clock that morning long after the phone call and demands for the children.

With each minute that crept closer, he could see the dread in Mr. Benson's face grow, the fear he felt for his daughter and her safety. If Jack was ever in that position… even though he saw it often, Hotch didn't think he would able to handle it. But that didn't matter right now. All that mattered was getting through this phone call and hopefully being able to have Garcia trace it to their exact location.

Ten minutes before the call, Hotch summoned his entire team along with the main detective on the case into the dining room where all their equipment was set up. Also with them, Mr. and Mrs. Benson and Dean Bartlett. Hotch had heard and exchange with the man's son previously and the boy was not happy about being left out. But nevertheless, he followed his father's orders and stayed with the girl that had arrived nearly three hours ago.

No one spoke. Everyone just knew what they were supposed to do. The only noise was the occasional shift of positions or Garcia typing wilding on her keyboard. Every minute passed by with agonizing slowness until it was a minute to midnight and Hotch addressed the room.

"Okay, we have a minute left," he said, though he didn't think they needed telling. "Everyone remember what you're supposed to do?" He was met with a few scattered nods and a few didn't even move. "Okay. Be ready."

And they waited.

Suddenly, through the silence the phone rang.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Henry didn't know how much time had passed as he lay on the concrete floor. He didn't know when the men would come back for them, or even if they were going to. Maybe they were just going to let them starve to death down there. But he didn't voice any of these unknowns. Scaring Ella more was not going to help the situation.

Eventually, she sat up with a groan. He followed after and realized what she was groaning about. Lying on the floor for too long really made it difficult for him to sit up. Actually, he had to fight off a groan of his own. "How long do you think it's been?" Ella asked, her voice cracking from lack of use.

"Honestly," Henry said. "I don't have clue."

She sighed. "I was afraid you'd say that." Henry stood and looked through their only tiny connection to the outside world. It was still dark, which meant it wasn't even getting close to sunrise. It was probably around midnight, he supposed.

Not two seconds after he had this thought, the dull orange light bulb that Henry had nearly forgotten about flicked on. He squeezed his eyes shut in pain as he heard Ella verbally cry out. The lock clicked and the door trapping them in their small, ten foot by ten foot prison swung open. Three men entered, two of them the same men who had dragged them down here and Henry immediately moved to stand protectively in front of Ella who had finally stood up. He didn't even know why he did it. The only thing he knew: he didn't want to let them hurt this girl… even if it meant getting hurt himself.

"Grab her," one said, and it was clear at how fast the other two followed the order that he was the leader.

"Don't touch her," Henry found himself saying. His voice sounded oddly brave because he knew inside he was absolutely terrified just thinking about how much stronger these men were than him.

"Out of the way boy," one of the henchmen spat.

"No," he refused and almost immediately Henry knew that it was bad idea. But he couldn't just do nothing. He backed closer until he could feel Ella trembling behind him.

"If Mr. Griffin wants to play hero," the leader said in an odd half-British half-American accent that held a menace to it that made Henry shiver, "let him play hero." _How does he know my name?_ Henry thought in a panic. The two henchmen grinned sinisterly and Henry felt a cold hand tighten around his insides. But he refused to show any fear.

As a reward, he received a swift punch across his unsuspecting forehead that not only sent stars dancing in his eyes, but sent him flying to the floor. Before he could even think about defending himself or even standing up, a boot crashed into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He coughed and gasped for air, but he only got another punch to the abdomen. Blow after blow made sharp contact with everything the man meant them until Henry could do nothing but prevent himself from moaning in pain. Doing anything of the sort would show weakness to his captors, and he refused to do any such thing.

One of the men grabbed the hair on top of his head and yanked, forcing him onto his feet. It was blinding for a moment, but his vision cleared of the black caused by the pain. He saw, with a little difficulty, that he was now standing across from Ella with the other henchmen holding tightly to her upper arms. He felt the same sensation around his own arms and knew he too was being restrained.

He finally made eye contact with Ella and saw she was very close to tears. "I'm fine," he assured her, much to the amusement of the men. "It's okay. I'm fine. All right?"

The girl across from him swallowed hard, but nodded anyway. The tears cleared from her eyes and Henry saw a determination replace them. "All right," said the leader. Henry nearly jumped in surprise. He had forgotten that the man was in the room with them. "Here's how this is going to go." He mainly addressed Ella and that confused Henry. Did this have something to do with her? He didn't have any time to ponder however, because the man continued. "I will be calling your father. I can pretty much guarantee he's going to want to talk to you, with all the FBI sniffing around him…" He said the last bit with so much contempt, Henry thought for a brief moment this was about the FBI, but soon figured that was a ridiculous thought. "And you are going to do exactly as I tell you."

Henry watched as Ella swallowed again, and said with an astounding amount of bravery, "What if I refuse?"

The leader smirked and shot a look in Henry's direction. The man holding tightly to his upper arms, spun him around and slammed him into the wall with such force he was too surprised to do anything. The henchmen's fingers began to wrap tightly around his neck, crushing his windpipe and cutting off his air supply. Henry realized too late in a panic the man was trying to strangle him. He felt his lungs become tight and his vision blurred with a fog. Every part of his body screamed for air, but the hands stemming his oxygen intake were unrelenting. He struggled, kicking at his attacker but never hitting a mark. His hands and nails clawed desperately, trying to pry the grip away, but with no avail. He could actually feel his brain shutting down, his body weaken. _So this is what it feels like to die_ he thought.

Just when he thought he was done for, he heard Ella beg for his release. "Please!" she screamed frantically. "Please, I'll do whatever you want! Just please, let him go!" The hands lifted and the fog vanished as he took in greedy gulps of oxygen, coughing violently from the effort. The henchmen was quick to grab Henry's upper arms again and drag him with no care back to his original spot, still coughing and gasping for the air he so desperately needed.

The leader strode over, not fazed by the recent events until he was standing just off to the side between him and Ella. "Now that our little episode is over, listen closely," he said. "It was ever so kind of you to agree to do what I say Miss Benson. I've written this lovely script for you to make sure you don't say anything I don't want you to. You say what is on this paper and only what is on this paper. If you deviate or Mr. Griffin here decides to play hero again, I will with no hesitation put a nine millimeter slug through his skull. And we wouldn't want brain and bone all over the place, now would we?" he finished with a sinister grin. Henry clenched his jaw tightly shut and balled his hands into fists so tight his fingernails cut deep into his palms. Ella looked liked she was fighting the urge to shout the many profanities she knew at the man, but was too afraid he would try something like hurting Henry again.

The man pulled out his cell phone and a gun. The weapon hung at his side for now and Henry couldn't help but hope it stayed there. He had stared down the barrel of one too many guns in his short teen life and he didn't have any intention of doing it again. "Hello, Mr. Benson," he said with mock happiness. "How are you?" He waited for the reply then spoke again. "Ah, I see… we'll get to that in a moment. I was actually wondering if the Griffins had arrived yet. No? Pity, I would've so enjoyed talking to them seeing as I have their son. But no matter, no matter. I'll speak to them later. For now I'm sure you want to speak to your daughter."

He pressed a button, Henry assumed to put the phone onto speaker, but he didn't know much about cell phones. But he had no time to ponder thoughts on technology because the gun in the leader's hand rose until it was parallel with his temple. He glared with as much hatred as he could muster, but the man merely smirked in amusement.

"Ella?" Craig Benson's voice crackled to life on the other end of the call. "Ella, honey, are you all right?"

Ella looked to the script the man was holding in front of her. "Yeah, Dad. I'm fine," she replied in a stiff voice. She shook her head, trying to force herself to make it sound more natural.

"They haven't hurt you?" he asked.

"No," she replied truthfully. "No I'm okay."

"And Henry?" he questioned.

She closed her eyes in defeat. Henry could tell she hated lying to her father and it took all of her energy to simply say, "No he's all right." She looked back to the paper. "Daddy, please," she read. "Whatever they want, do it. I'm… I'm scared. I don't want to die, Dad please."

"I will honey," her father said. "I will."

The man let the gun fall back to his side as he took the phone off of speaker and put it back up to his ear. "In order to get these two children back in one single piece, you owe me and my friends five million dollars. It would have only been three million, but seeing as I have another life at my mercy, I deserve more money." He paused to let this sink in for the benefit of both her father and the two children. "So you can do this one of four ways: you can pay me all of the money and save both of these… lovely children. You can only pay the original three million and your daughter goes free, but I kill young Henry. You could pay two million saving young Henry's life, but forfeiting your daughter's. Or you could pay me nothing in which case I would call you and let you listen as these innocent children suffer my displeasure."

"Pay him the three million!" Henry shouted suddenly. It didn't matter what happened to him as long as Ella escaped. "Don't bother with me!"

"Shut him up," he ordered, and Henry received a sharp blow to his stomach to silence him.

He grunted in pain and heard Ella squeal, "Henry!"

"It's really your choice Mr. Benson," the leader continued on the phone. "Can you sacrifice the life of someone else's child to save your own? Or vice versa to save a stranger's? You have until midnight tomorrow to get the money together. Exactly one hour before, I will call you with instructions on what to do with the money. Good luck. And remember, you have two lives on your hands now." And he hung up the phone. He smirked to himself then said, "Come on," to the two men.

They dragged the two kids with them until the last moment when they shoved them to the other side of them room. Henry stumbled and before he could regain his balance the door to their prison slammed shut. The lock clicked again and the light flickered out, plunging them into a moonlit darkness once again.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Maggie didn't know what to do. She was restless, anxious. Yes, she already knew where Henry was… Well, to a certain point. They didn't know exactly where he was so they couldn't save them. But the FBI had no clue who even had her friends, and that's what scared her the most.

Mr. Benson didn't recognize the voice and the cell phone they used was untraceable. The only thing they had was a 75 mile search radius. And that was hundreds of miles to cover. The chance that they would find them without any further clues was whatever came right before zero.

"She lied," Jasper suddenly said. Maggie gave a start. A silence had lingered around them since they had come back to where Jasper's father had left them after eavesdropping on the phone call with the kidnappers. Dean Bartlett was obviously unaware of just how sneaky his son was. But when Jasper broke that silence, it was unexpected.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, having no clue as to what he could possibly be referring to.

"Ella," he said simply. "When her dad asked whether or not Henry was hurt, she said no. She lied."

"Jasper, you have no reason to think-" Maggie started, but she was promptly cut off.

"I've known Ella for eleven years," Jasper said, standing from his spot on the bench. He began pacing as he continued. "I know when she's lying. Every time, I can tell. That "no" was forced."

"Jasper, she's been kidnapped," Maggie said, trying to convince him just as much as she was trying to convince herself. Just the thought of Henry getting hurt made her eyes tear up. And the punch he took over the phone… She could only imagine what it would be like if he seriously got injured. "She's obviously under duress. I can guarantee she's going to be a little stressed."

"That wasn't stressed, Maggie," Jasper snapped. "I know when Ella lies."

"Okay, fine," Maggie retorted. "Fine, so she lied. How does knowing Henry got hurt possibly make things better? It doesn't. It makes it worse."

"You don't want to know whether or not our best friend is seriously hurt?" Jasper said.

"No," Maggie replied, softer this time. "Of course I would want to know. But thinking things that may not be true and thinking that Henry could be hurt when he really isn't is just going to make this harder." Jasper shook his head and plopped down into his seat again. Maggie knelt in front of him and gently took one of his hands in her own. "Jasper I know you love him. He's your cousin. But you have to try and think rationally. You have to believe that Henry is going to be all right, because if you don't… If you're constantly thinking about the worst thing that could happen to them or about how he could die… you'll destroy yourself. And you'll completely lose hope."

Jasper sighed. "And this is why they call you the smart one," he said quietly extracting a small smile from his best friend. "You're right. We should get some sleep soon. Nothing new is going to happen tonight."

"Okay," Maggie said. "Do you want my dad to come and pick us up? I'm sure he'd be okay with you sleeping over this one night."

"No, it's all right," Jasper said. "You can just sleep here. My dad and I are going to pick up my aunt and uncle before we head back here. Dad said Mr. Benson was allowing those who want to sleep to do so upstairs."

"Sounds good," Maggie replied. "I'll just call my dad and let him know." Jasper nodded and she excused herself down the hall. When she looked back, just before dialing her cell phone, she saw the smile slip off of Jasper's face. His façade fell to the floor revealing just how worried about Henry and Ella he actually was. And Maggie was hurt that he felt the need to hide it from her, to be brave for her. Nothing was more important than knowing exactly how Jasper felt.

She loved Jasper; of that much she was certain. She wanted to be there for him no matter what and she wanted him to allow her to be there. But the thought that he wouldn't allow it, that he didn't love her back, killed her inside.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Henry caught himself before he fell to the floor on the wall beside him. The darkness blinded him for a moment, but his eyes soon adjusted to the dim lighting once again. He slid down the concrete wall until he was seated on the floor as his mind tried to process everything that had happened. The events ran across his vision, a vivid memory he was sure he would never be able to forget. Henry gave a start when he felt a small hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Ella said softly. "Did I hurt you?"

"What?" Henry asked.

"Are you okay?" she asked, this time making her point clear.

"Yeah," he replied, confused. "I'm fine." She scowled and Henry had to fight off the urge to ask why, but he remembered the look on her face in the few seconds after they beat him. "Trust me," he said. "I'm okay."

Again, she scowled as her thumb gently touched the cut on his forehead that was dripping blood into his eyebrow. He winced involuntarily and regretted it immediately. Ella wiped the blood drop away with her fingers and they moved to run across the bruises across his neck. "It's not as bad as it looks," he said softly.

"Oh, because that makes me feel so much better," she replied sarcastically and this time Henry didn't miss it. She didn't say anything as she shifted so she was sitting next to him, leaning against the wall. "Henry I'm sorry," she said again, this time avoiding eye contact.

"What?" he asked. How could she ever believe that she caused this? "No, this-this wasn't your fault. I made my own choices. You didn't make them for me. This wasn't your fault," he repeated adamantly.

"Why don't I believe you?" she questioned.

"Because you're a good person," Henry replied. "But I promise you, this wasn't your fault." He forced her to make eye contact with him and she nodded slowly.

"Fine," she acquiesced after a long silence. Her head rested on the wall behind her as Henry watched. Her eyes grew distant as if she was recalling a long absent memory and viewing it in her mind's eye. "My dad and I used to be close," she said softly, her eyes still unfocused. Henry's eyes narrowed studying everything she did. It wasn't much, but it was enough to know she was in pain. Not physical pain, but her emerald green eyes betrayed her true feelings. "We used to do so much together but now… we may live in the same house but we might as well live in different worlds."

"What changed?" he asked in a small voice, wanting to keep the discussion going.

"When I was eleven," she began pulling her knees closer to her chest, "I had an older brother." Henry briefly wondered what this had to do with anything, but he paid close attention to her verb tense. She _had_ an older brother? "He was seventeen and he was like the coolest person." She smiled at this. But her smile disappeared and pain again filled her eyes. "One night I woke up and Andy was shaking me. There was smoke everywhere and he said the house was on fire. He said we needed to get out, that Mom and Dad were on their way out and we would meet them outside. He ran ahead of me and when he got just a few feet away I couldn't see him through the smoke. I panicked, tripped down the stairs. I hit my head and everything went black."

Up until that point in her story, she was relatively emotionless, but now tears collected in her eyes. Henry felt the odd sensation again but he resisted the temptation to reach out and hug her. "I woke up in the hospital with third degree burns on my right side. I asked my parents about Andy and they… they told me what had happened after I hit my head. Apparently, when I didn't come out Andy came back in to get me. He found me easily enough, but just as soon as he got us out of the house, the fire reached the kitchen. And flame plus gas plus oxygen equals explosion. It sent debris flying. A piece hit Andy in the back, going right through his heart. He died instantly." She seemed unaware of the moisture collecting on her cheeks and the new tears making their way down her beautiful face. Henry felt immense sadness for her and wanted desperately to take away all of the pain that was causing the tears, but he couldn't understand why. He had only just met her. But she continued. "Not long after, my parents got divorced. I mean, my dad and I haven't had a real conversation in years. I think he blames me for what happened. I mean, if I hadn't fallen, he wouldn't have come back to get me."

Henry shook his head. How could a father possibly blame their child for anything? "I'm sure that's not true."

"He's right," Ella said bluntly, and Henry was taken aback. "I blame me. If I hadn't panicked everything would've been okay. If I hadn't been so childish-"

This time Henry cut her off. "You _were_ a kid. You were _eleven_. You had every right to panic. And blaming yourself for a series of unforeseeable events is ridiculous. What happened happened and feeling guilty for something that happened five years ago isn't going to help anything."

"Well, you're going to love this," she sniffed. "On my sixteenth birthday I convinced my father to let me get a tattoo of an owl with the initials AB on his stomach. An owl was his favorite animal," she explained. Ella pushed her sleeve over her shoulder and allowed Henry to see the snowy owl on the back of her shoulder. "I know the guilt I have is irrational, but I can't help what I feel. And you know what? Even after all these years, I can't stand lilies or daisies in the house because they remind me of his funeral…"

This time she brushed away the salty tears that fell from her eyes. "I don't think it's wrong to miss your brother," Henry said. "But blaming yourself everyday for his death… I think that's wrong."

She nodded slowly and Henry watched as she swallowed down the lump in her throat. "I don't think he'll pay to get me back," she mumbled referring to her father.

Henry furrowed his brow again. "I do," he said simply. "If he can, he will."

"You don't know that," Ella stated shaking her head, staring blankly at the floor. "You don't know _him._"

"You're right," he said, causing her to look back at him sadly. "I don't know him. But I'll tell you what I do know. I know he's your dad. I know he's already lost one child. Why would he risk not paying if it meant he was going to lose another? I mean, I may not know your dad, but I know mine. And any father wouldn't just sit and do nothing."

"You think?" Ella asked in a small voice.

"Yeah," Henry replied with a small smile.

Ella smiled back and Henry felt a pleasant tingling in his stomach. "Henry Griffin, you are definitely related to Jasper."

"What is that supposed to mean?" he questioned with a confused smile.

"It just means, Mr. Touchy, that you both always know what to say," she replied, gently placing her hand over his. "It's a gift. Don't lose it."

"Well, I'll try not to," he said and Ella chuckled.

After a few moments of silence, Henry decided to break it. "You know, maybe we should get to know each other," he said. Ella gave him an incredulous look.

"Haven't we been doing that for like the past six hours?" she asked.

"No I mean, like normal "what's your favorite color" type stuff," Henry said. "Simple. You know, to keep our minds off the bleak situation we've seem to have found us in." Ella blinked as she stared. "What? You have a better idea?"

"You could meditate," she said, with a clear air of sarcasm and Henry couldn't fight back a chuckle.

"Well, since you seem to be in the mood for sharing," Henry said with a grin, gently patting her leg, "you can go first. Though you can keep the soul bearing secrets to a minimum if you'd like."

"Okay, you are by far the weirdest kid I have ever met," Ella stated bluntly with a chuckle.

"Hey," Henry said, mocking offense.

"I didn't say weird meant bad," she said. "In fact, in this case weird means good." Henry smiled to himself. "Okay, well, my favorite color is yellow because it reminds me of smiley faces," she began and Henry grinned again. But he listened intently as she continued. "I've always wanted a pit bull as a pet, but I've only ever had cats. I've gone to the same school as Jasper since I was five. I've been singing since fifth grade. I love the TV show "Whose Line is it Anyway?" I'm in love with the actors Viggo Mortenson and Liam Neeson. My favorite subject is chemistry. My greatest inspiration is a fictional entomologist and I have a big fat crush on the lead singer of the band Emerson Drive. And you don't have the faintest idea what half of anything I just said is, do you?"

"Not at all," Henry said with a laugh. "But that's okay. At least I know it and by the time I'm done you'll be way more confused than I am right now."

"Oh, okay show off," she said, grinning. "Bring it on. It's your turn."

"Okay…" Henry said, confident he would deliver on his statement.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

A/N: Wow see? I told you that would take a while to get up. But it was a long chapter. And it was full of a wide variety of things correct? And for all of you Jaggie fans out there yes there is going to be some sort of a romance going on between them, but that'll happen later. And I mean LATER later. But it'll happen. And if I have enough readers I may not stop when they get rescued. I may just continue and add some serious angst of the recovery process. I already have some ideas… Hmm… But anyway, review my good people! And hope passionately that I will be able to write between rehearsals and homework.


	6. A Long, Cold Snake

Disclaimer: Nope. Still not mine.

A/N: All right, well here's the next chapter. I'm fairly certain this is just a filler chapter because nothing totally interesting happens in this chapter… (wow that was a lot of "chapters") But I can't go two chapters straight physically injuring poor Henry and psychologically damaging Ella for the rest of her life. I'm not THAT crazy… Or am I? o.O Okay, so you guys probably think I'm like the biggest weirdo ever. And you would be right! Hooray for you! But I'm not going to weird you out any longer. You can read now. Oh, and please review. THANK YOU! :D

_**Also! There will be some pretty bad language in this chapter so please please please don't be offended!**_

(Anonymous reviewer: Yeah, I'm pretty sure he could too in TV land. :D But I was kind of going for the whole "Henry is totally not invincible thing" and if he was caught in a surprise attack with a dude like three times stronger than he was, it would be pretty hard to recover. But that's okay. :D Because I totally see where you're coming from. And thank you for reviewing. :D Sorry I didn't send this to you personally (because I do that) but you reviewed anonymously so I couldn't. This was the next best thing. :D)

But now that that's out of the way, let me continue.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

"Garcia, what've you found?" Hotch asked, the tiniest bit of exhaustion penetrating his voice. It was around three o'clock that morning, three hours after the phone call had been placed. He and Morgan had just arrived back at the house after meeting and briefing the Griffins about the situation. Currently, they were upstairs with Mr. Bartlett and the two children, what they were talking about, Hotch could only guess at but at this point, it hardly mattered.

The cell phone was untraceable, the voice, unrecognizable. They virtually had nothing to use to find the two missing teenagers except a 150 mile search radius and anything Garcia could find. The search proved fruitless. There were just too many miles to cover and not nearly enough time or man power to search them all. Not only that, half was wilderness with potentially unregistered houses and cabins making the possibility of finding them without any sort of help virtually impossible.

"Oh, it's not what I've found, my dearies," Garcia said sadly. "It's what didn't I find."

"What do you mean?" Emily asked.

"I mean, Mr. Benson's company hires and fires people practically daily," Garcia continued, typing on her computer. "My list is thousands of names long and that is not an exaggeration." Hotch moved to stand behind Garcia, watched as she scrolled down through hundreds upon hundreds of names and had to fight back a sigh of defeat. "I have everything on here from executives to postal workers."

"You've got narrow this down," Rossi said.

"With what?" she asked helplessly.

"Eliminate everyone on that list who was born in or hasn't lived outside of the United States for an extended period of time," Reid babbled off.

Garcia nodded and typed wildly but didn't bother to ask what for. When Dr. Reid had an idea, it was usually spot on and shouldn't be questioned. But Morgan wanted to know his thought process. "What are you thinking, kid?" he questioned.

"He had an accent," Reid said simply but planned on elaborating. "That isn't what you would find in someone who's lived here all of his life. Even his speech patterns suggest, and while they may not be one hundred percent conclusive, that he has lived in another country."

"I still have at least a thousand names," Garcia interrupted. "I need more."

"His speech also suggests he's well educated," Emily contributed.

"How do we know that?" Garcia asked. While sometimes, she didn't question what they did, she really did want to know soon occasion. And they moved so quickly that she needed them to explain it so she had time to catch up.

"He uses phrases like "forfeit your daughter's" and "suffer my displeasure"," Reid explained.

"Only a man with at least a high school education would use those words and phrases," Morgan continued. "Also he used an untraceable cell phone. He has to be smart to know to do that."

"But he didn't disguise his voice," Garcia pointed out, mildly confused. She hated playing Devil's advocate but she didn't want some questions answered. "Wouldn't that make him dumb?"

"It wouldn't make him unintelligent," Emily stated. "Not masking his voice means he doesn't think we'll be able to identify him based solely on what we already know and the sound of his voice. That's arrogance, not stupidity."

"So eliminate anyone on that list who doesn't have at least a high school education," Hotch ordered.

Garcia did as she was bidden, but it still left hundreds of names on their possible suspect list to sift through. "It's going to take days to track down all of these people," she said.

"We don't have that kind of time," JJ snapped from her side of the room.

"She's right, we don't," Hotch agreed.

"So what do we do?" Garcia asked.

"The only thing we can do," Morgan said leaning on the table in front of him. "Wait for him to call back and give us the location of the drop."

"What if that doesn't pan out? What if it doesn't work?" Garcia asked.

Everyone exchanged looks in silence, afraid to even answer the question, because they all knew what would happen if they couldn't find the kids and the kidnapper didn't get what he wanted.

He would hurt them.

And the possibility these two teens could die and they couldn't do anything grew terrifyingly strong in every member of the BAU's mind.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Maggie attempted to focus in class on the Friday before the weekend. Dean Bartlett and Jasper had a fight early that morning about Jasper going to school. Jasper was adamant that he had to stay in case the FBI found anything. His father argued that nothing could possibly happen with the little the FBI had and the case wouldn't develop until at least eleven o'clock that night when the kidnapers called again. After much shouting and disagreeing, Jasper reluctantly agreed to go to school and return to the Benson house as soon as the final bell rang. And Maggie, to pacify Jasper for the moment, agreed to accompany him.

Everywhere she went, she was met with whispers and pointing fingers. Half of the school had clearly heard about Henry and Ella and the other half were to find out before the day was shot. In the four periods before lunch when the teachers were taking role, they either paused awkwardly at Henry or Ella's name or just skipped over it and smiled or glanced sadly at Maggie or Jasper. Finally it was lunch and Maggie had the opportunity to seek out and speak to to her friend.

He sulked around all day, ignoring Maggie, his teachers, and not paying the slightest attention in class. The most he did was pick up a pencil and doodle on the paper he was supposed to be taking notes on. Maggie didn't blame him. He was worried. They both were and she desperately wanted the chance to talk with him.

She approached her locker and saw Jasper walking ahead of her with his head down and backpack slung over one shoulder. Hunter went up to him and nudged him with his shoulder. "What up, Fartlett?" he asked using one of his clearly affectionate nicknames as Jasper stumbled and attempted to keep on walking.

"I'm not in the mood, Hunter," Jasper mumbled as he continued to walk forward.

"Where's your dorky cousin?" he asked. "He was supposed to give me his lunch money today. But obviously he's a wuss and didn't want to get pounded." Maggie knew immediately that was the wrong thing to say.

Jasper, much to Maggie and everyone else in the hall's surprise, grabbed Hunter by the collar of his shirt as both boy's backpacks dropped to the ground. Jasper slammed him against the lockers behind them and the hallway got deathly quiet. You could hear so much as a pin drop. "All right, you son of a bitch," Jasper growled. "You listen to me. Henry is not weak. He has never been weak, okay, you stupid bastard. He's missing. That's why he's not here. Actually, he was kidnapped, so really I don't have the faintest idea whether or not he's even alive or not, let alone whether he's hurt. So you can just shut up and stop talking about things you don't understand, or I swear to God I will beat you senseless."

Maggie was terrified. She had never seen Jasper this angry before and she had no doubt that if he was allowed to, he would not hesitate to hit Hunter. This was the best time to jump in. "That's enough!" she shouted, pushing Jasper away from Hunter. "That is enough, Jasper."

"What, you're taking his side?" he retorted, clearly outraged.

"There's no side to take!" Maggie replied angrily."You need to go cool off." Jasper just glared at her. Maggie stood her ground. "Go cool off Jasper!" she ordered. With one last icy glare, he stormed out of the hallway, his classmates almost jumping out of his way.

"Maggie, I- I didn't know-" Hunter began, but Maggie cut him off.

"I know, Hunter," she said with an air of exhaustion to her voice. "I know you didn't. Jasper's just… really worried. And I don't think that getting on his bad side is the best idea right now."

"Maybe I should go apologize," he said, trailing off.

While Maggie had to admit she was a little shocked and impressed he was man enough to do something like that after being basically humiliated and threatened by the scrawniest kid in the sophomore class, it probably wouldn't help anything. "No, no that's okay," she said. "I'll handle it. You better get to lunch before you get in trouble." Hunter nodded picked up his fallen bag and left Maggie to search for Jasper.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Maggie found him pacing angrily back and forth on the lawn in the courtyard. He was running his fingers through his hair and muttering intensely to himself. Maggie dropped her bag and approached him. "What the hell was that?" she spat, causing him to stop pacing in his tracks.

"What?"

"Jasper, clearly he didn't know about Henry," she stated. "Half the school doesn't know about Henry and Ella and getting angry at him or me is not going to get us anywhere." Her volume raised as Jasper tried fruitlessly to interrupt her.

"That idiot has fucked with me every single day since seventh grade, okay," he spat and Maggie had to prevent a gasp at his language. "I'm done with this. I'm done with him. I just want to- I want to- Goddammit!" he screamed throwing a punch at the nearest tree. When it made contact he cursed loudly and drew his hand close to his chest. "Dammit," he cursed again through gritted teeth.

Maggie sighed. "Let me see it," she said softly. He extended his hand to her and Maggie was only slightly relieved to see none of his fingers appeared broken. "I think you're just going to have a pretty bad bruise there." Jasper attempted to pull his hand away, but Maggie didn't let go. "Jasper, I need you to listen to me. And I mean really listen."

Jasper swallowed and Maggie literally saw the anger drain from his eyes. Exhaustion replaced it as he nodded. "Okay. Go ahead."

Her fingers ran across the developing bruise as she took a breath. "Okay. Jasper, I know you're scared. Believe me. I know exactly how you feel. Henry's one of my best friends. And while I may not know Ella as well as you do… I don't exactly want to see her get hurt either. And up until now in everything that's happened since Henry's gotten here, something like this hasn't seemed real, hasn't seemed like it could ever happen to us, to Henry because he's always been there. And now that he isn't… It just makes it all the more terrifying. But, Jasper, getting angry and screaming at people, and threatening to beat them up them is not the way to handle your fear. Okay?"

"I know," Jasper said. "I know that, but honestly Mags I… I don't… I don't know." Jasper Bartlett was at a loss for words. Maggie never thought she would see the day. He pulled his hand away and out of her grasp. She sighed as he turned his back on her, physically blocking her out, blocking her from his emotions.

"Jasper, you can talk to me," Maggie pleaded. "You've always been able to talk to me. Please, Jasper. Please." Slowly, she reached out and grabbed the hand hanging at his side. His fingers curled around hers but he didn't turn around.

"I'm scared, Mags," he said, in a near whimper. "Henry's… you know. And Ella's like my little sister. If we don't find them… I don't know what to do." Maggie couldn't tell whether he was crying or not, but she knew just how hard it was for him to admit something like that. Moving forward, she gently laid her hand on his shoulder.

"We'll find them," she whispered. "We'll find them."

"Oh I know we'll find them," Jasper said grimly. "But when and in what state?" Without another word, Jasper stepped away from Maggie, dropped her hand and walked away. He didn't even look back and that hurt. Jasper was right. Maggie didn't know when and how they would be found. If they were anything less than alive… Jasper wouldn't make it out with his sanity intact.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

_Why does my back ache?_ That was the first thought to find its way into Ella's groggy and sleep-deprived mind when she woke. She was lying on her side, that much she knew, but the bones in her shoulder and hip hurt. It felt like she was lying on concrete. Her eyelids opened. She _**was **_lying on concrete…

But before she could ask herself what the hell she was doing on a concrete floor, the memories of the kidnapping flooded back. That was why she was sleeping on concrete. Henry saw her yawn and said he would keep watch if she wanted to get some shut eye. Emerging from the blanket covering her- _Wait… Blanket? I've been kidnapped. They wouldn't give me a blanket…_

"Good morning, sleepy head," a male voice said from behind her. "Or should I saw _buenas tardes_ considering the time."

"What time is it?" she asked, not bothering to even turn around or question Henry's bizarre use of the Spanish language.

"My guess?" he said. "Around three." Sunlight streamed into the concrete room, lighting their prison naturally for the first time since they had gotten there. Ella sat up, moaned as she cracked her back and turned around only to have her eyes met with Henry's bare back turned to her. Glancing down at her mysterious blanket, she realized just why he was shirtless.

"Uh, Henry?" she said, causing him to face her. "Why do I have your shirt and you don't?"

"You looked cold," he said innocently. "When you were sleeping, I mean. And seeing as I lacked possession of a jacket…"

"Right," she said softly. Ella willed herself not to stare, but his toned chest and- was that a six pack? - made it extremely hard not to. Her eyes drifted across the developed bruises and she felt a pang of guilt.

"They're fine," Henry said, snapping Ella from her trance. He thought she was staring at his bruises. Cute… well she was but that wasn't her only intention… _Stop!_ she thought. _Dirty teenage mind! Bad!_

"Oh," she managed to spit out the single syllable before Henry had the chance to question her further or deepen his concerned gaze. Not that she'd mind… Having those intoxicatingly deep brown eyes staring her down… _Whoa Nelly! _Her mind attempted to stop those particular thoughts and feelings immediately. _We've been kidnapped, remember? Focus girly. Focus on anything but your creepy little teenage crush, psycho. _"That's good," she covered well, and silently thanked the Theater gods for her talent as a convincing actress. She stood and ignored her tingling foot that had long since fallen asleep. "How's your cut?"

"Fine," he shrugged.

"Let me see it," she said absently.

"You've already seen it," he said. "And trust me, I've fallen out of the tree many a time in my life. I know what a concussion feels like. This isn't it." But even as his mouth protested, he allowed her move closer to him until their faces were dangerously close, so close in fact Ella could feel Henry's chest move up and down as he took in air. She inspected the wound swiftly in the light and stepped away, putting at least a foot's distance between them.

"Satisfied?" he asked.

"Yup," she replied brightly, but in her mind she was screaming, _hell no bitch! I want to kiss a kid I've only known a week! And I didn't even do it! So am I satisfied? Hell to the freakin' no! _"Here," she said holding out his shirt. "You have my permission to clothe yourself now."

He chuckled and took his shirt from her hands. "I think thee, oh noble lord." Ella chuckled as well as he buttoned up the red shirt.

"So, three o'clock, huh?" she asked and he nodded. "Only, what, nine more hours before they come back?"

"You know, I'm kind of hoping that they'll find us before then," Henry said absently running a hand across his neck. Ella felt another twinge of guilt.

"Well, that makes two of us," Ella mumbled. It was silent as she got lost in thought. With a breath, she asked, "If they don't find us… or if they don't get the money... what do you think will happen to us?"

Henry didn't answer right away. His brow furrowed in contemplation as if he was searching the concrete floor for a hidden answer. He found nothing and struggled to speak, to answer her question. Finally, he answered, albeit slowly. "To be completely honest, and that's what you want right?"

"No, please lie to me," she snapped sarcastically. "I only asked the question. Yes, please be honest."

"I truly and honestly believe," he continued, "thinking about things like that… It takes away the hope quicker. It… it gives you more fear. So I… I'm trying not to think about it right now. So I don't think you really should either."

It was silent again and Ella drifted away from the present. Henry did have a valid point. Being scared of something that _**could **_happen was stupid. But how could she not be afraid? She was what they did to Henry, what they clearly were not afraid to do and she couldn't help but wonder… If they could cause that much damage and laugh, what could they still do without even flinching?

Ella was scared. No, not just scared. She was flippin' terrified. The fear was all consuming, a long, cold snake coiling around her, squeezing ever tighter until she couldn't draw breath. The edge of panic grew closer and closer until she was fighting to stay on the ledge of sanity. Her chest grew tight. She couldn't take in air.

A hand was now pushing her into a seated position and putting her head between her knees. _Panic attack?_ she thought. _I haven't had one of those since seventh grade._ Her breathing eased and as the roar of panic in her ears vanished, she could hear Henry's voice mumbling soothing words.

It brought her back to Earth, to the present and away from all of her frightful thoughts. "I'm sorry," she heard him say. "I didn't mean to make you panic."

She meant to tell him it was all right. She meant to tell him it wasn't his fault and it wasn't anything he said. And she meant to thank him for calming her down. But she didn't say any of those things. Instead she asked, "How do you do it?"

"Huh?" he asked, confused.

"How do you stay so calm, so collected in situations like this?" she expanded.

"I don't know," he replied. "I guess I just feel like panic is going to help anyone and especially not myself." She couldn't find a reply. He was so much stronger than her, so much braver. Ella was weak and she knew it. She couldn't even fight away panic anymore. While she wallowed in self-pity, Henry spoke again. "Hey," he said softly. "Look at me." She raised her unworthy eyes to gaze at him. "Fear doesn't make you weak. It just makes you human." It was as if he read her thoughts.

She was now suddenly very aware of his hand on her shoulder and the tear slowly tracing its way down her cheek. Henry caught it with his thumb and gently brushed it away. Ella sniffed and looked at him as Henry reassured her with a small smile.

Henry pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. "I won't let them do anything to you, okay? I promise," he whispered.

"You can't promise a thing like that," she said back, her voice muffled slightly in his shoulder and it even shook slightly.

"I'm promising it anyway," he said quietly. Ella closed her eyes and blocked out everything except Henry's heartbeat and wanted more than anything for things to stay this way, for no one else to get hurt. But in her heart she knew their pain had only just begun.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

A/N: All right, coolness. Thank the heavens I can get this up now because I have so much work its ridiculous. D: It sucks let me tell you. Though I usually write during PreCalc so you guys are in luck that is a boring class. A really really boring class. Review my peeps! Thank you for reading! :D Oh and next chapter... I'm not gonna lie, is gonna be pretty intense.


	7. Agony

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. D:

A/N: Okay, so I'm sooo sorry this has taken me so long to update, but I was cast in the school play and that was a real time suck. I can tell you that. But now that I do have it, and this is a pretty decent sized chapter if I do say so myself, you can read it and review it for me! :D

_**WARNING: This chapter contains extreme violence, torture and implied rape. I do not explicitly state anything that happens, but it is implied. If this bothers you, please don't read it and don't send me an angry review for not warning you! I did! And it was bold! Please please please be warned. **_

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Darkness crept back into the corners of the concrete basement as the sun set beyond the visible horizon. With every minute that ticked past, the fate of the two teenagers grew closer. Were they actually going to get out? Or were the destined for a slow and painful death? Henry knew Ella's fear and anxiety about the upcoming hours were valid and extremely well-warranted. In fact, he felt nearly the same way. And every second passed with a slowness Henry had never before experienced in his life. Minutes felt like hours; hours, like days.

As the darkness grew deeper, the conversation grew scarce, each swimming in their own worries trying not to drown and willing the next time their cell's door opened it was the police coming to take them home.

Henry was so lost in his mind that when the orange bulb flicked on, he wasn't prepared for it. His hissed in pain as his pupils attempted in vain to adjust his blurry vision to the sudden change in light before he was restrained. But something snaked around his upper arms and Henry knew it was too late. His teary eyes cleared and he saw Ella being dragged with a yelp of protest until she was standing right in front of Henry.

"Well, well, well," the leader from before said, dragging out the vowel of the word, making it much more sinister. The man addressed Ella before he spoke to Henry. "It looks like your father has about an hour left." His focus shifted. "Your parents I'm sure are in the country by now and I can imagine they would love to speak to their son. Remember what I told young Ella. Any funny business, any at all, and I will shatter her kneecap. Is that understood?" Henry had never harbored so much anger for one man in his entire life, and he didn't even bother to dignify his question with a verbal response. "Good," the man said despite his clear dismissal.

Henry made eye contact with Ella and mouthed 'Don't worry.' She nodded slowly, taking advantage of the inattention of her captor. Henry tore his gaze away as the leader began to speak into the phone.

"Hello again, Mr. Benson. We'll get to business in a moment. However, I was hoping I could let our young friend here speak to his beloved parents. Good, good. One moment please." He pressed the loaded gun Henry didn't see him yank out of his holster on his hip onto Ella's left knee. "Not a word," he growled putting the phone onto speaker.

"Henry?" his father's gravelly voice asked. "Henry, are you there?" He hadn't prepared himself for the feeling that engulfed him. It threw him off and he was silent, having a hard time recovering.

"Dad?" he asked softly, much softer than he had spoken before.

"Oh, thank God," his mother responded. Hearing her voice was even worse. It was teary and Henry knew she had been crying. It wasn't hard to guess. That didn't make it easier to handle.

"Mom?" he asked. To his surprise, saying the single word had him finding himself swallowing down tears. "No, I'm fine," he life as much as he didn't want him to. "I'm okay, Mom, don't worry."

"Okay," she said. "You're going to be fine, baby. We're going to find you." It sounded she was trying to convince herself as much as she was trying to convince her son.

"I know, Mama," he replied. "I know you will." He paused, then struggled through his next sentence. "Hey, Dad? Could I ask you to promise me something?"

"Of course," his father replied.

"Can… can Mom hear me?" Henry asked.

There was some shuffling on the other end of the phone and finally his father spoke again. "No, she can't. It's just me."

"Dad, could you promise to tell Jasper something for me?" he asked softly, avoiding looking anywhere near Ella.

"Tell him yourself," his father insisted with a false and unsure sense of encouragement.

"Dad…" Henry said slowly. "You and I both know how this could end. And that's why I didn't want to ask in front of Mom. I lied to her. You I know I did. I don't know if everything's going to work out and if it doesn't… I just really need Jasper to know this. Please, Dad."

Henry's father sighed in defeat, sending another knife of guilt through his heart. "Okay, son. Just tell me what to say."

"Tell him it's not his fault," Henry stated. "And that I'm sorry I dragged him and Maggie into everything."

"Will he know for what?" he asked.

"Yeah," Henry said, resigned. "Dad I'm sorry for causing you and Mom so much trouble and I never meant to disappoint you."

"Henry," his father said, gently but firmly. "You didn't cause us trouble. That comes with having kids. It wasn't you. You're our son and we love you. And Henry?"

"Yeah, Dad?" he asked.

"I've always been proud of you." Henry now had to fight with a full effort to keep the tears at bay. Crying would show weakness and that wasn't what Henry wanted. But it felt like he was saying good-bye to his parents, and it hurt, much more than he thought it would.

"Henry?" his mother's voice brought him back to the present.

"Yeah, Mom?" he asked, almost afraid of what she might say.

"_Mimi kutoa upendo wangu, malaika wangu_," she said, tears choking her voice.

And at that, Henry almost lost it. But he forced himself to stay strong as he said, "I love you too, Mom." He didn't notice the glare on his kidnapper's face. He didn't hear the rest of the conversation. He didn't see the tears that rolled down Ella's face. He didn't even know anything had happened, until he was being slammed against the wall behind him.

"What did she say?" the man hissed in Henry's ear.

"What do you think?" Henry snapped without thinking about the potential consequences. "I told her I loved her. Figure it out." With a cry of frustration, he raised the butt of his gun and Henry flinched back. But the attack never came. Instead, the man's arm stopped halfway down, rethinking its target, and swung around behind him. The gun smacked into Ella's cheek, snapping her head back and extracting a yelp of pain.

"Now if you don't tell me exactly what she said, I'm going to use this in the way it was meant to," the man threatened, waving the gun's barrel in Ella's direction.

"The literal translation is "I give you my love, my angel"," Henry replied quickly, his eyes darting nervously between the weapon and Ella, who currently had her eyes clenched tightly closed, ignoring the blood dripping down her face.

"What language?" he asked.

"Swahili," Henry replied. The man laughed bitterly and raised the gun, as if he didn't believe a word Henry had just said. "No, please! I'm telling the truth!" Much to his relief, the man lowered the gun.

"If I find out you lied or left anything out," he said, trailing off sinisterly. "Well, use your imagination." Henry had to hold back a shudder, but he knew he was telling the truth. They wouldn't get hurt… at least, not over that. "See you in an hour," he grinned.

One single nod later, the man restraining Ella shoved her with force towards the back of the room. Henry caught her before she fell, but in doing so, he missed what might have been his only chance to escape. But he reminded himself Ella was hurt. She raised her head giving Henry the chance to get a look at her through the darkness. "I'm so sorry," he found himself saying, eyeing the cut on her cheek with uncertainty.

"I'm fine," she said, but her voice was small, distant even and Henry knew that she was lying. "At least I know you can be sarcastic," she said dryly, attempting to make light of a dreary situation.

But Henry was not amused. In fact, he was less than that. His thumb wiped away the solitary trickle of blood that had traced its way nearly to her chin. She winced and Henry did so with her. "I'm sorry," he repeated, though the second time he said it, he wasn't really sure what he was apologizing for. Wasn't it for getting her hurt and breaking his promise? Or was it for appearing weak, for letting his emotions show through the wall he had so carefully constructed?

And apparently she did see those emotions because her next question was, "Henry, are you okay?" He opened his mouth to respond, but found no words would come out and he couldn't explain why. He didn't know why his brain couldn't form words and reply to her simple question. "Those were your parents," she prompted and Henry attempted to ignore the ringing in his ears. It wasn't a question, more of a statement to get him to say something.

"Yeah." He managed to blurt out the single syllable before she had a chance to say something else. How was it that just a few hours ago, he was the level headed one, and now it the roles seemed to be switched?

"Is that really what your mom said?" she questioned.

Henry found himself nodding. Before his brain could tell him to stop he began to speak. "She used to call me that all the time when I was little. I'd almost forgotten it's been so long." He'd never shared that information with anyone. So why was he pouring his heart out to a girl he had only just met? Sometimes he didn't even understand the things that his brain seemed to do without prompt. "She would call me her angel. She hasn't called me that since I was eight years old…"

He felt the burning of tears seeping through his eye lids. Ashamed, he began to wipe them away. He got to one side, but a smaller hand beat him to the other. Ella's thumb brushed the tear away as she looked him in the eye. "Henry, crying doesn't make you weak. It makes you human." _Damn you_ he thought glumly. _Damn you for using my own words against me, you beautiful, understanding human being. And damn you for being right._ Henry nodded though, and allowed the few tears he had left to slide down his face. He sniffed and faked a smile. "I'm fine," he said.

"You know, jungle boy," Ella replied softly. "You're a terrible liar."

**~UH~UH~UH~**

"Garcia, did you get the account number?" JJ asked.

"Yes, Jayje, I got it," Garcia replied for what felt like the hundredth time. "Unfortunately, that doesn't mean I can track it. My talents only go so far."

JJ had to fight back a groan of frustration. It had been over 24 hours and they had nothing, no leads, no suspects, and every tip they got never panned out. Her press conference and plea for help from the public echoed repeating endlessly in the background until the children were discovered. "…were kidnapped late last night. If you have any information on the location of these teenagers or a possible description of their kidnappers, please call the tip hotline. We need all the help we can get."

Her words rang biting in her ears. Being a mother herself, she was able to identify with the parents of the missing teens. If her son… _Oh God_ she thought _Henry…_ She hadn't noticed the name until now. With a new found determination which may have held a little of the inability to separate case and home now, she sat down next to the technician and asked, "What can I do to help?"

"Well," Garcia thought aloud. "Here." She pulled up a list of names and phone numbers on one of her screens. "Call these people and try and get them to tell you where they are."

"Wouldn't it be easier to trap and trace them?" JJ wondered.

"Takes too much time," she answered. "Time we don't have at this point."

"Got it," JJ answered, picking up her cell phone, and glancing at the time. **11:06** it read. They had 54 minutes to find their location and make it there. And with her new determination, she refused to believe it was an impossible task.

Phone number after phone number, nothing worked. "Hello, my name is Jennifer Jareau. I work with the FBI.I was wondering if you might have a few minutes to help me out," she repeated to endless people, most of which were extremely cooperative. Hotch had entered the room finding the two women hard at work. After being updated on their plan, he explained that the profile said their unsub or unknown subject would likely not answer the phone or be as uncooperative as possible. It all had to do with the fact that he knew the FBI would be looking for him and he wouldn't want to tip them off. Not answering his phone would be the best way in his mind to do that.

"But don't you think that he would pretend to help us in order to divert the attention and suspicion away from himself?" Garcia asked.

"Not this unsub," Hotch answered. "He's not inclined to help anyone to begin with and diverting suspicion to him is to simply turn them down. This unsub doesn't want to be a part of the internal investigation because he really already is controlling it with the phone calls and the information he gives. It doesn't do him any good to be around with the FBI crawling all over the place."

"So you're saying to make a list of all the people who either don't answer or who don't cooperate and look through those names," JJ gathered. Hotch nodded and JJ began her list with the numbers she had already called.

When all was said and done, they had only fifteen more names to investigate. Unfortunately, time was short. _Only 22 more minutes…_ JJ thought grimly. _Only 22 more minutes to find who did this before they get hurt…_

**~UH~UH~UH~**

"Mags!" Jasper whispered loudly. Maggie rolled her eyes at his failed attempt at subtleness. He gestured for her to follow him so she checked her watch. Her stomach dropped. It was only three minutes until midnight. All the fear that she had forgotten in the few seconds of Jasper's stupidity came back in one fell swoop.

Maggie knew the ransom hadn't been paid. As rich as Mr. Benson was, he didn't have five million dollars lying around, and even if he did he wouldn't have been able to get it all together in only twenty-four hours. Henry's parents flat out refused the two million dollars he did have, rejecting the possibility that his daughter could be killed. After hours of deliberation in a closed room that Jasper knew a secret entrance to, the FBI had come to the solution that the only thing that would not get anyone killed would be to simply not pay the ransom.

Maggie thought it was the stupidest idea anyone could have come up with. Around ten adults with some of the most brilliant minds in America were conversing for a solution and all they could come up with was to call the kidnapper's bluff? Were they kidding? And what was going to happen if he wasn't bluffing? What was going to happen if he wasn't afraid to hurt a couple of kids? How were they going to solve that problem? No one seemed to be thinking about these questions, about the repercussions if they got them wrong. No one except Maggie.

She crept quietly into the hidden hallway that came with the massive historical home and waited. She watched nervously as each member of the FBI slowly entered the room, along with Henry's parents, Jasper's father and Ella's parents.

The grandfather clock chimed ominously signaling the phone to ring. It didn't. Four five six chimes later, still the phone made no sign of awakening. Eight nine ten… The chimes mocked them now, heightening the tension to an unbearable level. Eleven… Twelve…

The chimes stopped, leaving an apprehensive silence in its wake. No one dared to breathe. Did they call the bluff? Or didn't they? The sharp ring cut through the tension like a knife and no one moved as Mr. Benson reached for the answering button…

**~UH~UH~UH~**

The door crashed open with a thunderous clap, the light not giving any warning to the intrusion. Henry could tell the man was absolutely furious as well as his cronies that stormed in after him. He was so stunned with the enraged entrance the man made he couldn't react in time to prevent Ella from being dragged away roughly by her hair. She yelped in pain and surprise as Henry was tightly restrained from behind, much tighter than before.

"Guess what?" the leader screamed, his infuriated voice echoing insanely around the room. "Daddy didn't pay up. And that means you-" he threw Ella to the floor much harder than he ever needed to "-my pretty get to pay for it." Henry now knew exactly the reason for his tighter restraints. "Well, I supposed Henry will pay for it as well depending on how good a person he actually is."

The man flicked his head in Ella direction and his other henchman took her by the shirt and slammed her against the wall behind them. Henry understood now what it was like to feel murderous as the henchman's hands slithered down her body. And he realized in horror what was happening. But it was too late. Henry struggled as hard as he could to break free from his captor, shouting curses and pleas for mercy. His voice contrasted sharply with Ella's high pitched screams of terror and pain. The louder she screamed, the harder he struggled, and the tighter the man's hold became on him. In those moments, everything he had learned in the martial arts, everything he was supposed to be under pressure he wasn't. It all vanished and was replaced with a petrifying fear like nothing he could have ever felt.

He clamped his eyes tightly shut as Ella shrieked one final time. He didn't feel the tears streaming hot and fast down his cheeks. Nothing seemed real. _This can't be happening_ he thought desperately. _This has to be a dream. Please wake up! Please wake up!_ But his pleas went unnoticed and his wishes not granted. "And that was the sound of one of my men raping your daughter," the leader spat into his phone. Henry hadn't even noticed him pull out his cell phone.

But he did see him take out a terrible looking tazor-like device and hand it to his henchman. "Stop!" Henry begged. "Please stop!" But it was as if they couldn't hear him. Ella cried out in pain, her screeches getting louder and louder as the device kept in contact with the skin of her stomach longer and longer.

"And that was the sound of me running 30,000 volts through her system," he said into the phone. "Which kneecap would you like me to shoot out first? I'll let you pick."

"No!" Henry cried. "No! Shoot me! Please, just shoot me!" The first henchman took Ella by the arms, supporting her weak, nearly dead weight, so his boss could press the barrel of the gun to her left knee. Fury rose in Henry's gut, followed by a horrendous feeling of helplessness. But the rage was so great, Henry could actually think almost clearly, against all evidence to the contrary. He stopped struggling for a brief moment to fling his head back with as much force as he could muster.

There was a sickening crack and the release of pressure on his arms told Henry he had made contact with exactly what he wanted: his captor's nose. Quickly as to not lose his window of opportunity, he shoved the man away and made a mad dash to the leader, the one causing all of their pain. Henry's body slammed into the man's, sending them both crashing to the floor and the gun and phone skidding away out of reach.

And Henry fought. He fought as hard as he could, attempting to land punch after punch, and he made contact a few times. But soon a second pair of hands was fighting him off until finally he was pinned to the floor staring daggers into the two kidnappers above him. "Do you mind?" the one with blood spewing from his face asked.

"Be my guest," the leader replied to him. And he took Henry by the throat and slammed him against the wall.

"You are in way over your head kid," the man hissed through the blood. "And now you get to pay for your ignorance." With a sinister grin that made Henry wish he was on the other end of a gun, he whipped out a pocket knife and flipped it open. If he thought he was scared before, it was nothing compared to this. He was close to panic. And as the knife crept closer and closer to his skin, the façade he had vanished and fear unwillingly replaced it.

As soon as the tip of the blade punctured his skin, Henry had to fight back a scream. His teeth bit into his lip so hard he drew blood, but that wasn't even enough. A shriek of agony escaped his lips and he was powerless to stop it. Nothing in his life could have prepared him for something like what he was experiencing now. The knife dragged farther and farther down his side and Henry found himself actually wishing for death. Even as the knife was pulled from his flesh, the excruciating pain did not dissipate.

But apparently that was not satisfactory to the man with the knife. Eight additional agonizing nicks later, finally Henry heard the wonderful noise of the knife clattering to the floor. However, that seemed purely to open up his hands so the man could throw punches. Henry lost count of how many blows he received, but by the time they ceased, he lacked any energy to even stay on his feet. Warm blood trickled down his body and onto the grey floor and Henry had a hard time keeping his eyes open. Black crept slowly into his vision and the last thing he saw were the tears rolling down Ella's face as he slipped into a dark oblivion.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

A/N: Wow that was intense. I hope I didn't depress you guys too much. Review and let me know what you think! :D Thanks for reading peeps! :D


	8. Dispair

Disclaimer: Uh… Nope. Nothing is mine.

A/N: Wow, okay, I'm sorry this took so long to get up. I'm not even going to try and make any excuses anymore; it just takes forever sometimes to do. I'm actually really excited for this chapter you guys. It's pretty sad, but I think there's some good development in here. Review you guys! And I'm sorry again that this took so long to get up.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Maggie didn't want to believe what she was hearing. She _couldn't _believe it. It just didn't seem fathomable. But it was happening. The sound of the torture of her friend was flowing in her ears and she didn't have the willpower to end it, to stop it. The pure terror and pain that she was sure resided on her face reflected exactly in Jasper's and summed up nicely precisely the way her insides squirmed. But then, as suddenly as the screams started, they ceased, replaced with the hysterical sobs of Jasper's surrogate sister. "Henry!" she cried out. "No! You killed him! You _killed_ him! No, _**Henry**_!"

And Maggie heard nothing after that. _No_ she thought. _Henry, Henry Griffin couldn't be…_ Jasper seemed to be thinking along the same lines as her because he shook his head, slowly, refusing to believe his ears. "Jasper," Maggie choked out. "I'm so sorry."

"No," he said, repeating the word over and over again, like he needed to hear it and if he said it, the event would just rewind, like it had never happened. Maggie attempted to console him for the second time past her own grief, but he shoved her away and ran. She followed, but he continued to run, out of the room, out of the house, and down the street.

"Jasper, come back!" Maggie screamed to the deserted road. She was tempted to dash after him, but knew in her head that telling his father was probably the best idea. "Mr. Bartlett!" she shouted flailing wildly back into the house. "Dean Bartlett! Dean Bartlett!" Jasper's father emerged, followed closely behind by several of the FBI agents, looking very much like he had been crying as well. "Jasper left," she said simply, her breathing heavy.

"What?" he demanded.

"He just took off," she continued, her voice, shrill as she neared hysteria. "He heard Ella say Henry was dead and he ran off down the street." At this point, she didn't care that they might be in trouble for listening in when he explicitly told them not to. All her thoughts were on Jasper: finding him and making sure he was all right. Dean Bartlett's eyes widened in worry and he took Maggie by the arm. He led her to the car leaving the FBI standing confused in their wake.

"Which way did he go?" he asked, opening the passenger's side door and helping Maggie inside.

"That way," she pointed. He nodded and closed the door making his way around the car to the driver's side. He started the engine, threw it into drive, and flew down the street, not even bothering to put his seatbelt on. It was only a few minutes before they caught sight of Jasper's form stumbling and dropping to his knees behind a tree. Dean Bartlett stopped the car without bothering to turn it off, and ran into the deserted park in his son's direction.

Maggie slowed as the dean of her school reached his son. "Jasper?" she heard him quietly call. The boy didn't life his head, as if he hadn't heard his father. Behind his hands, she heard the stifled sobs of grief. "Jasper," he called again.

Jasper's head snapped up startled at the intrusion. "Dad," he said, surprised to see the face of his father staring back at him. Quickly, he began brushing the moisture from his cheeks. "Dad, I'm sorry. We shouldn't have been listening. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," he replied. "I should have known you would anyway. I'm sorry. I'm sorry you had to listen to something like that." It was quiet and Maggie dared not approach.

"Is he really dead?" Jasper whispered into the night, asking the question Maggie wasn't really sure she wanted to know the answer to.

"I don't know," his father answered. "I wish I did."

Tears filled her friend's eyes again and Maggie desperately wanted to just run over, hug him, and never let him go. But she resisted as his father enveloped him in a tight hug. "Your mother was always so much better at this than me," Dean Bartlett commented, but Jasper didn't pull away. In fact, Maggie was sure she saw his arms wrap tighter around his father.

It was a sad picture and Maggie found herself crying silent tears of her own both for Jasper and the possibility of losing one of her best friends.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Many members of the BAU, after recovering from the shock of what should have been seen as the inevitable, disappeared to attempt to compose themselves. Hotch had vanished right after the boy's uncle ran out with the girl into the darkness of the backyard, Emily quickly following behind him. JJ had wandered up the stairs, quite alone, but leaving a certain concerned genius pacing at the bottom of the steps. Rossi sat alone in the living room, his expression as it always was: unreadable and pensive. Garcia hadn't moved from her computer. She was typing furiously as tears gathered in her eyes. And this was where Morgan had found himself watching. Just watching and contemplating what exactly he was going to say to her.

"Are you going to just stand there?" she snapped irritably. "Or are you going to actually help me?"

"What's wrong, baby girl?" But as soon as he asked it, he regretted it.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her voice's pitch getting higher with every word she spoke. "What's wrong? Are you kidding me, Derek? We just listened to two children get tortured because we didn't do our jobs, because we couldn't save them. That's what's wrong. Okay?" She banged angrily on the key board and cursed under her breath.

"Hey, hey," Morgan said, bending down beside her and gently taking her hands.

"Don't you feel that?" she asked in almost a whisper. "Don't you feel it?"

"Penelope," Morgan began, "I don't think you can hear something like that and not feel anything. It's just a matter of accepting what happened and learning to live with it." In truth, he wanted to punch a wall. He agreed with Garcia. They had failed. But he couldn't tell her that. She needed to be focused if they were going to do anything to find them.

"I promised that boy we were going to find his cousin," she said. He gingerly removed her glasses and sighed.

"I know, baby," he replied. "I know. But sometimes, you have to remember, we can't save them all."

"But these are children," Garcia insisted. "Kids. And we had so much time to save them and we didn't."

"And that's the job." He hated telling her things he didn't believe in. But she needed this more than he did. She needed to hear this in order to feel better, in order to have even a small chance to get these children home safe. "We don't save them all. As much as we want to, that doesn't work all the time. But we can save them now. And we can find them now. But to do that, we need to focus. You need to focus. Okay?"

She took a moment, thought about what he said, then replied. "Okay. I will search to the ends of the Earth. I'll go back to the age of the dinosaurs if that's what it takes to find them."

"And that," Morgan replied replacing her glasses on her face, "is the Penelope Garcia I know." She didn't smile, and he didn't expect her to. But she turned back to her computer and with much more determination but less ferocity resumed working.

"We need everyone in here," Garcia told the FBI agent.

"I'm on it," Morgan replied, exiting the room and off to find his colleagues.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

JJ couldn't help the tears that slid down her face. Ever since her son was born, she had been much more emotional. At least that was the excuse she had given herself. The job had been getting to her more and more with each passing case and this one just hit the ball home. And so she, with her back to the door, allowed the warm tears to fall.

But a soft voice at the door told her she was no longer alone. "Jayje?" Reid called in his nearly always gentle voice. "JJ, are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Reid," she sniffed, quickly brushing away the tears from her face and turning to face the BAU's youngest member. "Really, I'm okay. Does Hotch need us?"

"No," Reid replied slowly. "I came to back to check and make sure you were all right."

"I'm fine," she said again, but knew that genius profiler Spencer Reid was having none of it.

"I know I'm socially ignorant Jayje," he started, "but I'm not nearly that ignorant. I know you're lying to me. Please tell the truth." JJ avoided his kind brown eyes that seemed almost too gentle, and even younger than his face. "Is it his name?"

It didn't have the same effect on her when she said it in her mind than when Reid said it out loud. It was so much more real when his voice spoke it. "It's not just the name, Spence. It's everything. These poor kids… Shouldn't have we been able to do something? And I didn't even realize that boy had the same name as my son until two hours ago. What kind of mother does that make me?"

"I don't think it makes you a bad mother, JJ," he replied. "It just means that you're distancing your home from you work. And isn't that what you're supposed to do?"

"How can you stand there and tell me that?" she nearly shouted. The poor kid was just trying to help her, to comfort her and here she was screaming at him. If she had been in her right mind, she would have been ashamed. But her emotions were flying wild and she wasn't in her right mind. However, at the hurt expression that crossed Reid's face, the flame of anger died.

Reid sighed, defeated. "This is the job," he said. "And as much as it is a good thing and we save people… we can't save everyone."

"Well, sometimes our job sucks," JJ replied sharply.

"And I agree with you," Reid said. "But I think there's still a chance to save those two children. Or we at least need to arrest the man responsible for the closure of the families." This time, it was JJ who sighed. Reid was right. He was _always_ right. She forgot that he was a genius sometimes. She also forgot he was human and he did have feelings. He had to have felt something hearing that torture. She wasn't the only one on the face of the Earth who had feelings.

Suddenly, JJ felt compelled to hug the younger man. Clearly, he was not expecting it, but reciprocated the hug none the less. "Thanks, Spence," she muttered, affectionately using the nickname only she used.

"You're welcome, Jayje," Reid replied, thankful he did something personal right for a change.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

The blissful state of unconsciousness melted away as Henry peeled open his eyelids. He was dazed and confused, and in so much pain, but he couldn't fathom why. Most of the throbbing seemed to be coming from his side, so he lifted his arm with a huge effort and grazed the point of the most ache. It stung a little when he touched it but something warm and sticky clung to his fingers. In the darkness, he could see a crimson stain lingering on the tips. _Blood_ he thought _I'm bleeding. Why am I bleeding?_ But he needn't have asked the question because as soon as he did, he remembered everything, all the torture he had endured and witnessed. _Ella…_ was the very next thing to run through his mind.

With as much strength as he could muster, he sat up, ignoring the loud protests his muscles were making, and stared around the room, his eyes frantically searching for her form. Behind him, he finally found her, curled, unmoving with her hand stretched out in a silent call for help, appearing much smaller now than she had before. Without considering his own injuries, he scrambled as fast as he could (which considering how fast he usually moved, was quite slow) to his feet to get to Ella and make sure she was alive.

Finally, Henry finished limping to her side. He turned her so she was lying on her back. In the dim moonlight and when he had gently brushed away the hair that had fallen into her face, he could see the damage done after he had collapsed from the agony. Dried blood coated her nose that appeared severely broken. Her shoulders and arms were layered with bruises and Henry avoided lifting her shirt to view the burns on her stomach. Tears burned his eyes and now he allowed them to fall willingly. But he didn't cry for himself; he cried for Ella, for all the pain she had to go through because he was too weak to save her. "Please wake up," he sobbed quietly, clutching tightly to her limp hand. "I'm so sorry. I'm _so _sorry." He continued to sob the same words over and over again until he had no tears left to cry. Then, he gingerly picked her still unconscious from the hard concrete floor and cradled her gently in his arms, rocking slowly back and forth again paying no mind to the pain radiating from all of his wounds.

After what could well have been years, he heard a small moan and it took a few seconds for Henry to register the noise. Only when he felt Ella tense and groan, "No, please, not again," did he completely realize she was awake.

"Shh," he hushed. "It's me. Don't worry. It's just me." The thick voice that issued comforting words from his mouth was not his own, yet he felt his lips move to form the words anyway and Ella relaxed in his grip.

"Henry," she whimpered. "You're alive." It was clear to him that when he passed out, she thought he was dead. An immense relief passed over her and Henry knew it by just the tone of her voice.

"Shh," he cooed again, gently rest his cheek on her forehead. It lay on his chest, unmoving, but Henry assumed it was only because she was too weak and in too much pain to do anything about it. When she spoke again, his suspicions were confirmed.

"Everything hurts," she whispered.

"I know," Henry replied, suddenly finding he did have more tears to cry. "I know and I'm sorry."

She was trembling, whether it was out of shock or cold, Henry didn't know, but he hugged her closer and ran his hands up and down her arms to warm her up. "Henry, I'm so sorry," she said, her voice shaking. "This is my fault."

"No it's not," Henry replied adamantly. "Don't ever think that, okay?" He left her give him a small nod as her fingers curled to clutch tightly to the bloody and tattered fabric that was supposed to be his shirt, most likely as a safety blanket, to assure her that he was in fact still alive and breathing.

"You won't tell anyone, will you?" she mumbled, and Henry knew exactly what she was referring to.

Henry sighed sadly at the thought of what had occurred. "Of course not," he replied. "Not unless you tell me it's okay."

"Thank you," she whispered nestling closer to his chest. There was a long silence. "We're gonna die here, aren't we?" she asked so softly that if Henry were not directly above her, he would have missed it. She sounded terrified, yet resolved to the fact she had just asked about.

"I think so," he replied honestly yet feeling more than one stab of guilt deep inside his chest. "But I'll tell you something." He lifted her chin until their foreheads rested together and they were looking into each other's eyes. "I don't regret this… because nobody should have to die alone." And such a profound feeling of utter hopelessness washed over him, he suddenly became numb. No tears would come, even as Ella sobbed in desperation, her tears soaking through the fabric lying against his chest. All he could do was comfort Ella is the miserable situation and pray that she wouldn't have to watch him die.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

A/N: And here we are. The end of another chapter. Review my peeps! :D


	9. I Thought it Was Over

Disclaimer: Why do I keep writing this? You guys already know I don't own it. If I did, it would have stayed on Cartoon Network.

A/N: I am proud to say I have written four thousand words in this chapter in much less time that it took me to write the previous chapter. It's pretty intense. And for those of you who thought the story would end with their rescue… Boy, were you wrong. I still have a lot of angst and crap to crank out. I'm going to try and get like two more BAU scenes in here before they vanish from my story because I plan on writing even after they are gone. Unless you guys don't want me too… Oh who the heck cares? I'll write it anyway. :P Anyway, I probably weird all of you out with all of my babbling, so I'll just stop.

_**WARNING: Again there is some pretty intense language in this chapter and some serious serious angst. Oh and blood. There will be blood.**_

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Jasper sat in the front seat of his father's car, well aware that Maggie's eyes were on him, but not caring in the slightest. It surprised him, the fact that she seen him completely break down didn't bother him and he couldn't understand why. He was always so private, so secretive with his emotions (except perhaps irritation) and he had just revealed more than he ever intended to the girl he had a huge crush on. No big deal, right? Wrong. Or at least, it should have been a big deal.

Before long, he was conscious to the fact that the car was stopping and he would need to get out. Mindlessly, like a robot, he pulled the handle and exited the vehicle. Distinctly in the distance, he heard two more doors slam and feet shuffling on the concrete, but he wasn't paying attention. None of those things mattered. All that did was the FBI was wrong and now his best friend and cousin could be dead because of their fatal mistake and he resented it. He resented that the** FB **_friggin'_ **I** couldn't do _shit_ to save the people he loved most.

Someone was calling his name. He knew it. He just didn't know why, why they were calling him. "Jasper!" It was Maggie. He should have known. Her brown eyes were filled with deep compassion and concern. She touched his arm, but he didn't feel the way he normally did, like his heart would explode with excitement. Instead, he felt nothing. He was numb. "Jasper, didn't you hear me?"

"What? No I didn't," he answered bluntly and monotone.

"I said you should go inside and lie down," she repeated, looking more worried with every word. "Come on. I'll take you inside." Jasper allowed himself to be led into the eerily quiet house. He didn't want to think, at all. He just wanted to sleep, to sleep and forget everything. Unfortunately he knew that it would never happen. He wouldn't be able to even think about falling asleep with Henry and Ella still out there. Regardless, Maggie led him to the couch and gently pushed him so he sat.

Her weight shifted the couch and he knew she had sat down next to him. Her tiny hand enveloped his and her thumb softly caressed the back of his hand.

Jasper had no idea how long he sat there staring at the pattern on the carpet, dry-eyed and cold. If Maggie had tried to speak to him, he didn't realize it nor did he care. If anyone had even entered the room, he didn't notice. As far as he was concerned, nothing was happening around him. Nothing even existed outside of his little bubble.

His bubble popped three hours after the end of the phone call. There was a shout deep within the house, a man's voice and it sounded urgent. "HOTCH!" the man called. _"Get in here!"_ Finally, Jasper looked at Maggie. She had the barest expression of hope on her face. Without a word, both teens scrambled to their feet and made a mad dash for the room with the source of the yelling.

They had gotten there last, but by no means had that meant they missed the break-through. The tech girl Jasper had spoken to when Henry had just gone missing was speaking very fast as her fingers flew over the keyboard. She said some stuff in technical jargon even Jasper didn't recognize or understand, but then translated it. "I think I've found them."

"Where?" the boss with the tie asked urgently.

"Well, I don't _know_ if I've found them," the red-head replied and Jasper's excited bubble nearly popped. "I just need to check one more thing." She typed rapidly and Jasper allowed the bubble of hope to swell within him again. "That's it. I've got it. I've found them. I know where they are."

**~UH~UH~UH~**

There was no way to know in Henry's mind how long Ella cried in his rocking arms, nor how long he cradled her after she had stopped. Neither of them said anything until a loud bang sounded above them. "What was that?" Ella whispered frightfully.

"I don't know," Henry replied honestly. But his curiosity peaked and he needed to stand, ignoring all the sharp pains and protesting muscles with only a slight wince and being very gentle with all of Ella's wounds. He helped her stand regardless, made sure she could balance on her own, and followed the loud shuffling above him all around the room, leaving Ella back in the same spot he had left.

But when the door burst open, the man who had ordered all of the damage to him and Ella to be done flung himself into the stone room and Henry regretted suddenly leaving Ella alone and unprotected. Before Henry had time to react, the man had raised the gun and fired a single shot.

It echoed loudly around the room. It was like watching a horrible movie in slow motion, unable to close your eyes or stop it before it happened, and Henry was absolutely powerless to do anything at all. All he could do was watch as the bullet made impact with Ella's stomach. She gasped and felt the wound with an expression of surprise then fell with a thump to the floor.

Henry didn't know if he screamed. He didn't know if he said anything. He didn't even know if he moved. But the next thing he was consciously aware of was the weight of the gun in his trembling hand and feeling the intense urge to pull back the trigger. "What? Are you going to shoot me?" the man sneered, spitting blood onto the floor. _Did I do that? Did I hit him?_ "You can't shoot me. You're too much of a coward."

"Shut up," Henry said, tears of frustration burning in his eyes.

"You and that idiot girl are going to die here because you don't have the guts to save her." The man lunged for the weapon with a roar and Henry instinctually pulled the trigger to prevent the man from gaining access. As soon as it happened, Henry wished it hadn't.

The man stumbled back with a look of shock on his face, like he didn't really expect Henry to actually shoot him. But he fell back, his eyes open wide and his mouth agape, ready for a silent scream that would never pass his lips. The man was dead. Henry dropped the gun onto the ground and backed away as if it were a poisonous snake. He couldn't believe he had actually taken another life, snuffed it out so easily.

It was then he remembered Ella. He rushed to her side and nearly laughed in relief when he saw she was still taking in air, even if the gasps were short and shallow. Blood was flowing quickly from the wound in her abdomen and Henry only vaguely remembered what to do. He placed his hand gently over the wound. The warm, sticky blood streamed through his fingers. Ella gave an audible cry of pain and Henry winced. "I'm so sorry, Elle," he whispered softly.

"Not… your fault," she gasped with difficulty.

Suddenly, Henry felt a hand press firmly down over his. He was about to defend himself when he saw a brunette woman he didn't recognize staring back at him. She had kind eyes and Henry wasn't nearly as afraid as he was before. "My name is Emily Prentiss," the dark-haired woman said. "I work with the FBI." _FBI. Thank God._ They were saved.

But Henry was brought back to the present when felt a gentle hand lie on his cheek. Ella's gasping was quicker now and more shallow, but still she spoke. "You…you can…t-tell them." And Henry immediately knew what she was talking about.

"Okay," he said feeling a pang if guilt deep in his gut. Several agonizingly painful minutes later, the paramedics entered the room. Henry was promptly shoved out of the way despite his longing to stay by her side and Ella's hand fell, leaving a bloody smear on his cheek. He also found his knees were coated in blood from kneeling beside her. It hurt. It was physically painful to watch them cart her limp body away without him, without knowing if she was going to be all right, if she was going to live. He would have given anything to be in her place, to have taken the bullet for her, to have been shot instead of her. She didn't deserve something like this to happen to her. She had already suffered so much…

Someone was talking to him. He was sure of it. But he couldn't understand when the male voice was saying. There was a sharp ringing in his ears and the next thing Henry knew, he was sitting inside what appeared to be an ambulance with a blanket wrapped tightly around him and a medic fussing over his head wound. Across from him was another man Henry again didn't recognize, but because his vest flashed **FBI** he knew where he was from at least. He asked a couple of questions. Henry didn't answer. The medic asked him a few questions. He didn't answer those either. Eventually both of the men gave up and the only noise that could be heard the rest of the trip were the whirring sirens, the signal that Henry was finally going home.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Finally. _Finally_ they were going to the hospital. **Finally** Jasper could breathe a sigh of relief for the first time in days. The police were escorting his family, the Bensons and Maggie to the hospital. The FBI was en route there now with Henry and Ella. The only thing that worried Jasper: yes they were alive, but to what extent? They never said how injured they were, or what medical attention they would need and that concerned the boy.

The car pulled up to the side of the hospital, sirens blaring, and if Jasper could have barreled through the sliding automatic door he would have. His father, though, would never have allowed it. So as calmly as they could, the seven family members and a police escort entered the ER. The FBI was waiting for them. Well, two members were waiting for them.

"What happened?" his uncle asked quickly.

"Where's my baby?" Ms. Benson fired out.

"Where's Henry?" Maggie shouted.

All were cried at the same time so everything jumbled together, but it was clear what was being inquired. The head FBI guy (Jasper still had yet to learn his name) held up a hand and everyone was silenced at once. He seemed to have a miraculous power for doing that. Jasper needed to learn how to do it. "I know you all are worried," he began. "And I do have information… but I think it would be unwise for Jasper and Maggie to be here right now." Jasper blinked.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked absently, uncaring that he was insulting a guy with a gun.

"No, Jasper, Agent Hotchner is right," his father said. Jasper stared at him in disbelief.

"If the adults will come with me…" the man called Agent Hotchner said. "And Dr. Reid will stay here with Maggie and Jasper." He shook his head. He didn't want to stay behind. He wanted to know what was going on, what had happened to his friend and cousin. Why didn't they want him to know? Did something happen on the way to the hospital? Did something serious happen to one of them and they died?

But he was frustrated. He wasn't some kid; he could handle it. Regardless, the adults, minus Dr. Reid left the bustling ER into a hallway and the scrawny FBI agent watched closely, so he had no means of escaping. Jasper sat down with an aggravated moan in a miraculously vacant chair. "Hey," Maggie said to him, pulling out her cell phone. "I need to run outside and call my dad." Jasper nodded but said nothing else and watched her go through the marked automatic doors again.

He sat now being watched only by the youngest FBI agent, hoping, _praying_ his father would emerge from the hallway soon to tell him exactly what was going on. His pleas were clearly heard because a second later his father shuffled into the active ER, his head hung low, and Jasper knew something was terribly wrong. "Dad, what's going on?" he asked, standing from his plastic seat.

His father sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Have a seat, son," he said with a low voice. It was the same voice he used that morning to tell him his mother was never coming home and now Jasper was worried sick. "Henry's… alive right now. He's okay, physically. Some bruises, cuts, nothing really the hospital staff can't fix. Mentally, it's a different story. Apparently, he was completely comatose when they brought him in. He hasn't said anything since they found him and Ella. They don't exactly know why yet, but they expect it has to do with the trauma caused by what the men did."

"So he's gone nuts," Jasper spat with contempt.

"No," his father replied. "No, he's not crazy. Jasper, he's just hurt by everything that's happened."

"And Ella?" Jasper asked, not really believing the lies his father was feeding him.

Bryan sighed again, this time much deeper. "Jasper…" he said. "Jasper…Ella's been… Ella's been shot." There was a roaring in his ears. Jasper couldn't have heard his father correctly, or it had to be some cruel, sick joke that his father was playing and after a few moments he would say 'Just kidding! She's fine,' but it never came. Nothing of the sort came to pass his lips, just his father's sorrowful stare. "Apparently, one of the men got to the cell before the FBI did and he fired a single shot into her stomach. The man who shot her is dead now, but according to the doctors… She's lost a lot of blood and she's in surgery now but… Jasper, they don't think she's going to make it."

Eight words… How could **eight words** tear down his entire existence? Through everything, through all of this, he had at least something to hold onto, something to hope for, and he tried with all his might to believe that he was going to be fine through this. But those eight words and the extremely possible possibility that Ella wouldn't make it destroyed him. Jasper couldn't move, couldn't think, couldn't _breathe_. He thought he muttered something to his dad about telling Maggie himself and his father mumbled something about finding out if the private waiting room was arranged yet. That made no sense, but nothing much did anymore.

"And Jasper…" his father said. "You can't tell Henry."

Jasper did a double take. "_What_?" he asked. "What? Are you- are you serious, Dad?" He couldn't be. Not tell Henry about something like this? What was he _thinking_?

"Yes, Jasper. I'm serious," his father replied.

"No!" Jasper shouted, attracting the attention of a few passing nurses and several people waiting in the ER. "No, we can't just keep this from him."

"Jasper calm down," his father began.

"No, I will not calm down," Jasper replied. "This is- It's completely- It's-"

"Jasper, please." And his babbling was silenced. "It would not be good for Henry for him to know anything unless it is certain."

"So, what, do we just wait for her to kick the bucket for us to tell him?" he shouted. In reality, he shouldn't have been talking about Ella's precarious position like that, but being sarcastic helped him to distance the reality he was facing. It made it all easier to handle.

"Or for her to live," Bryan continued. "But yes."

"Why?" Jasper asked. "What does Henry have to gain from that?"

"Jasper, trust me," he said. "If you don't listen to me for anything else, listen to this. Do not tell Henry how bad it is, please. Do what I say."

Jasper shook his head, unwilling to lie to his cousin. But the stare his father was giving him, the pleading stare was enough for Jasper to spit, "Fine." His father nodded and got up from his seat just as Maggie reentered. She saw Jasper's bewildered yet angry expression and sat beside him as the dean disappeared around the corner.

"Jasper, what happened?" she asked gently. "What did your dad say about Henry?"

He didn't know how to reply so he said nothing in hopes that Maggie wouldn't inquire any farther. His hopes were dashed though, as she questioned him again. Conflict arose in his gut. He wasn't sure if he should tell her the truth because he wasn't entirely sure how she would take it, how much it would hurt her, but he couldn't very well lie to her. "Ella's been shot," he stated blandly. He heard her gasp. He didn't care. "And basically my dad said it's so bad that they don't think she'll live another few hours until morning."

"J-Jasper," Maggie said. "I'm so sorry." Jasper avoided looking at her, seeing the tears in her eyes would be too much. He wanted to stay angry because if he stayed angry he wouldn't be able to feel the pain that was hiding beneath the bubbling fury.

"Oh, but we haven't gotten to the best part," he said sarcastically with his fake anger. "We're not allowed to tell Henry."

"Wh-what?" Maggie asked, confused and seemingly hurt he was taking his emotions out on her.

Jasper clenched his fists in front of him and stared at the ground. "Yeah, we're not allowed to tell him how screwed Ella is because, well, those psychos fucked him up enough already," he continued in his bitter and biting tone, "and we don't want to fuck him up any more."

"Jasper!" Maggie admonished and very nearly shouted.

"What?" Jasper asked. "That's basically what my dad said. Physically he's going to be just dandy, but those freaks did something to bring him to the brink of insanity and if we tell him this it'll just push him over to the edge so he's batshit crazy."

"I am _positive_ that is not what your dad said," Maggie said, tightening her muscles. Jasper could tell she was scared of him right now. Good. It would keep him angry at her.

"Mentally damaged, batshit crazy… It means the same thing." Still he avoided her eyes. It was easier to remain pissed.

"You haven't even seen him!" Her shrill reply silenced him at once. "Jasper, I know you're frustrated and angry and worried, but you can't do this to me; you can't do this to yourself. I know what you've gone through, but can you imagine what Henry's gone through? You need to calm down and stop yelling at me for something I can't control. And… don't get angry but, I think your dad may be right," she finished in a small voice.

"What?" Now Jasper really was angry. How could she side with his father? How could she condone lying to one of her best friends?

"Hear me out," she said raising her hands in surrender and getting Jasper's anger to dissipate slightly. "For the past, what, 36 hours all Henry has know is pain and suffering with no end in sight. Everything he's experienced has been for the worse and telling him something like this with a huge chance the end isn't going to be good… it'll crush the hope he has left."

"But there is still a chance," Jasper interrupted, but Maggie shook her head and he couldn't understand why.

"Not to Henry," she said. "To Henry, how could something good possibly come out of all of the horrible things that have happened to him? How could the world go back to the good place it was, how could the end of this hell possibly be happy when so much bad had happened to him? Not telling him, I think would give him more hope, would give him the thing he needs to get through this."

"But what happens if she dies?" he asked in a small voice, very much unlike his own. "What do we tell him then?"

"I don't want to think about that," she answered honestly. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, okay?"

Jasper didn't respond. He couldn't. There was nothing for him to say. Maggie had miraculously made his anger vanish and answered all of her questions. "I thought it was over," he mumbled. "I thought once they saved them, this would all be over."

"I know," Maggie said. "I wish it was."

"And Ella," Jasper said, his tears actually choking his voice. "Ella…" But he couldn't even completely the thought. With his fury gone, there was nothing to block the wave of grief that flooded over him.

"She's your sister," Maggie replied. "Or at least she could be with how long you've known her. And you love her." Nothing stopped the tears from flowing down his cheeks, however hard he tried to stifle them. "And that's why this hurts so much, because you love her."

Jasper sniffed. "Why are you so good at this?" he asked softly. "It should be the other way around. I'm the guy. I should be comforting you."

Maggie smiled. "I'm the more logical of the two of us. Plus, I don't know Ella and Henry as well as you do. So you should be affected more by this than me."

"And again," Jasper said. "That's why you're the smart one." The two sat in silence for a few moments when Jasper spoke again. "I should have known something was wrong right when my dad told me to sit down."

"Why?" Maggie questioned curiously.

"Because that's the same thing he said and the same way he said it when he told me my mom wasn't coming home," he replied. For as long as Maggie knew Jasper, the only thing he ever said about his mother was the fact she had died when he was six. She had no understanding of the circumstances surrounding her death however because he refused to talk about it. Even when she asked about his mother, he would shut down and just stop talking all together. Maggie wasn't sure whether or not it was because Jasper didn't trust her, or he just didn't want to think about that part of his past.

"It was… a Tuesday morning," he continued, unsure of exactly why he was saying this, why he was telling Maggie the only secret he ever had kept from everyone including Ella up until about two years before. "And I was coming down the stairs to go to school. My mom used to take me, but she wasn't there and I should've known something was wrong because my dad was still home. He always left before I woke up. And he told me that I'd better sit down… just like today. I asked him where Mommy was and why she wasn't home. And then he… he said that she got hurt… and she went to heaven and she… she wasn't coming back." Again, he was crying. _Why do I have to be so weak_ he asked himself. "He told me that she had fallen from a roof top and she was in a better place, a place where she was happier. Only when I was ten, three years later, did I realize that what he said meant that she had killed herself that she wasn't happy living her life with me and Dad." He sniffed and wiped his nose briefly. "I don't tell people that. I don't… I love my mom but I don't know why she would… do something like that."

Maggie took Jasper's hand in her own and whispered, "I won't tell anyone," with a small smile.

Jasper was about to respond when his father poked his head around the corner and said, "The FBI got us the private waiting room. Come on, guys." They stood together and Maggie almost pulled her hand away. His fingers tightened their hold and she almost seemed surprised that he didn't want her to let go. Regardless, she didn't pull away and they walked holding hands, Jasper taking comfort in the small hand encased in his own.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

A/N: Snap, that was intense. Review please! :D


	10. Nightmare

Disclaimer: *sigh* Here we going again…

A/N: All right, so after that intense chapter I am giving you yet another intense chapter. I hope you all enjoy and sadly the BAU doesn't make an appearance in this one save for a brief mention, but I promise they will be in at least one more chapter before they completely disappear and I start on the long road to recovery (that is if you guys want me to…) Please don't forget to review! I really really like them. ;D Oh, and I am sorry this one is rather shorter than all my other chapters, but the scene I wanted to do next was significantly longer than I wanted the chapter to be, so I didn't really want to do it here and maybe lose your interest. So that will be saved for next chapter which hopefully will come in the next few days.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Failure. The word rang bitter and biting through the small, quiet room. He failed to keep Ella safe. He failed his to act on his promise to her. Recounting the events of the past hours to the FBI made that horrible fact abundantly clear to everyone around him. The expression of pure horror on his parents' usually amiable faces made it just that more difficult to deal with. "And… the rest you know." His raspy voice silenced and the FBI asked no more questions.

God, the questions. _And what happened after that? What did he do? Is that everything?_ All inquires repeated endlessly in his mind each with only one terrible answer: **I failed**. There was no way around it, no way to sugar coat it and make it seem better. Disappointment radiated from the silence everyone was giving him. He didn't blame them. All he wanted to do was crawl into a hole and sleep forever, to punish himself for everything he had done and had failed to do.

His mother wrapped her arms around him, but there was a stiffness there, as if she were afraid of her own son. _Good_ he thought. _She should be. I'm a murderer. _She and his father led him to a door with a tiny little window to see inside. Jasper and Maggie were there, along with his uncle and Ella's parents. In short, everyone he was too ashamed to face. But he couldn't protest, because his father was opening the door for him and pushing him inside. It was a punishment for what he had done. He knew it, and he was okay with it. In all honesty, he deserved it. Every painful minute.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Henry entered the private waiting room, and Maggie nearly burst into tears. He had dark circles around his eyes revealing his fatigue, bruises all around his neck and upper arms. There were cuts on his face and she could only imagine what his stomach and chest looked like. And his eyes… They were do distant and unfocused and in pain.

Maggie leaped up, dashed over, and hugged him tightly nearly tackling him and knocking him over in his weakened state. He hissed in pain and nearly collapsed. She pulled away quickly and steadied him before she said, "I'm so sorry."

It's okay," Henry replied weakly, though not seeming okay in the slightest.

"Maybe you should sit," Jasper offered softly. Maggie hadn't even realized that he had come over to them, but there he was leading Henry to a chair. Henry sunk slowly into a seat, trying but failing to hide a wince of pain.

Maggie sat close, eager and worried, but was hesitant to reach out and touch him again in fear of causing more pain to his injuries. Apparently Henry realized this so he on his own reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder with a small, probably forced smile. "Henry, what happened?" she heard Jasper ask, and just after the question hung in the tense air, Maggie wasn't sure she truly wanted to know the answer.

His fake smile vanished as Henry opened his mouth a few times but nothing ever made it out. He sighed in defeat. "I'm sorry," he nearly whispered. "I don't think I can talk about this again."

"That's okay," Maggie said quickly. "You don't have to talk about it." The FBI probably wrung hum dry with questions. So they sat in silence, Maggie exchanging worried and concerned looks between the two cousins as Henry stared blankly at the tile floor.

"Do you know how Ella is?" Henry suddenly asked with no warning towards his friends. Maggie felt a pang in her stomach as she glanced briefly at Jasper.

"We haven't really heard anything," Jasper said, the lie rolling easily off his tongue. Maggie was grateful he did what he did. She was a terrible liar.

"Jasper," Henry said, still gazing tiredly at the floor. "You're my cousin. I know when you're lying to me. Please," he begged, his eyes making contact with Jasper for the first time. "I need to know. _Please_."

Jasper sighed sadly struggling to find the words Maggie knew Henry did not want to hear, but asked for anyway. "Henry, the doctors… they don't… they're not really optimistic. Actually…They don't think she'll make it until morning…" There was no need to say any more. He wanted for Henry to respond. He didn't say anything, just closed his eyes and hung his head. A solitary tear escaped from under his closed eyelids. "Henry, I'm sorry," Jasper whispered, close to tears himself as he gently placed a hand on Henry's shoulder. But his cousin still didn't respond. "Henry?"

"Thank you, Jasper," he said softly. "Thank you for being honest."

"I want her to be okay too," Jasper said, feeding off Henry's unneeded and unsaid words. "Believe me, I really do. And Ella won't give up if she can help it." But as just as before, Henry didn't respond. He didn't even raise his head.

"Henry?" Maggie asked gently, placing her hand softly on one of his miraculously unbruised forearms. His head snapped up and gazed at her, the touch clearly unexpected.

"I'm okay," he said, not reassuring Maggie in the slightest. "I'm okay." She remained skeptical, not removing her hand, but not questioning him any further in fear of causing more pain to the poor, seemingly lost boy. But even if Maggie wanted answers, she wouldn't have gotten them. Henry's parents entered the waiting room and Henry stood and left Maggie and Jasper to cling to his mother. Maggie wasn't at all offended. In fact her heart broke, not because Henry had left her, but because of the sorrowful sight of Henry falling weakly into his mother's open arms. Henry's face remained blank, but he allowed his mother to fuss and worry about him. It was clear Henry was completely exhausted. However it was also clear that he wasn't going anywhere any time soon. Ella was first and foremost on his list and if she never made it out… Maggie was sure she would finally see Henry Griffin fall apart, a sight she was most eager to avoid.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

She couldn't understand what was happening or where she was. She wanted to open her eyes, but they felt like lead. All that hinted towards her surroundings were the sounds echoing in her ears, but they were garbled like they had been put through a machine and it had translated them into an inhuman tongue. Things beeped and hissed and voices rang and she tried to comprehend just what those voices were saying.

Pressure restricted her breathing and she felt as if someone or something was sitting on it. Swallowing even proved a chore and she couldn't understand why her body wasn't doing what she was telling it to. _Move!_ Her brain seemed to scream. _You have to MOVE!_ But it did not comply.

As much as the pressure was increasing on her body, it also felt as if she were floating, lying in a pool of water. Her hair swirled around her and her legs seemed to move on their own accord. Through her closed eye lids, she could see a bright white light, like that out of a movie.

_So this is what it feels like to die_ she thought, the pressure suddenly lifting and everything getting clearer. "She's in cardiac arrest!" someone screamed. _Wait, what?_"I'm defibrillating!" A shock ran through her body. And then another. And then another but she didn't seem to be waking. The last thing she heard was a long sustained beep before all she remembered was black and silence.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Henry stood silently, not speaking about anything for the first time in his life. He was clad in a black suit, the color ripe for the occasion and for once, he wore it without any sort of protest, something no one thought they'd ever see. It was far too serious and somber an occasion to whine about something that seemed so trivial compared to the loss of human life. Jasper hadn't spoken to him since that night Ella had… His brain didn't even want to think the word let alone say it aloud.

The gravity of the situation hadn't hit Henry truly until this moment that she was never coming back, that the only thing left of the person he had gotten to know was a lifeless shell, and the life she had existed only in his memories, most of them terrible memories Henry all but wanted to forget. And the grief that came with her passing was nearly unbearable, and it was all because of Henry. It was because he hadn't kept his promise, because he walked away and he allowed her to take that bullet. It was his fault and he knew it. Her father's tears that flowed with freedom were because of him. He didn't blame Jasper for not talking to him. He had as good as killed Jasper's best childhood friend, his sister.

It had been a week. One solitary week after the incident and Henry still had no idea how to deal with everything.

As he and Jasper approached the casket left open before the funeral itself, a clap of glum thunder sounded and the rain began to fall in sad droplets creating a pitter-patter of lament. The falling water seemed to washaway the layer of death that hung about the air surrounding the cemetery. Ella's face held a calm, almost peaceful expression, as if she had just fallen asleep there. The mortician took great care to cover the cuts and bruises that lay on her face with a layer of makeup, but Henry remained unfooled. He knew they were there and he could see them underneath the layers of pointless makeup.

"How could you do this?" Jasper asked in a low voice, his head hung still gazing at Ella's body.

"Huh?" Henry asked, caught off guard by Jasper's venomous comment.

"How could you do this?" Jasper asked again, this time with more of a trace of malice in his voice. "How could you let her get hurt? How could you break your promise?"

Henry didn't quite recall telling Jasper about the promise he made to Ella, but what he recalled and didn't did not matter. "You let her get hurt. All of this is because of you!" Jasper continued to shout with a clear hatred toward his cousin backing Henry into a wall. He hit it and had no where left to turn. "You let her die! She took a bullet for you? I have a hard time believing that she would ever do such a thing to a person like _**you.**_ Why, Henry? Why did you do this?"

"No, I… I didn't-" he stuttered in shock. Everyone else in the funeral home turned away, ignoring the spiteful exchange between the two cousins.

"_Tell him Henry_," a voice the young boy recognized whispered in his ear. It was Ella's voice. But Henry couldn't understand just how that was possible. Ella was dead. She was lying in the casket right in front of him. "_Tell him why you let me die_." But it was unmistakable. That was Ella's voice, but it was high and cold, nothing like the warm voice he knew in life. "_Tell him how you made a promise you knew you couldn't keep_."

"No, I- I tried to-" Henry faltered, but was swiftly interrupted by a bitter, sarcastic laugh that chilled him to the bone.

"_You tried_?" Ella whispered, malevolently. "_Well, clearly tried wasn't good enough. If it was, I wouldn't be dead. I would be alive. It should be __**you**__ in that casket, Henry. It should be your body people are crying over. Because that would mean you were a real hero. But because it's me, because I'm dead, you're no hero. You're a __**joke**_." She spat the last word with so much contempt Henry winced.

"No!" Henry shouted. "No, please! I didn't mean for this to happen! I didn't mean-"

"_You didn't mean for this to happen_?" This time she was shouting. Her voice was harsh and shrill, extremely inhuman. "_If you didn't mean for this to happen, I wouldn't have died! He wouldn't have shot me, Henry, he would have shot you. If you didn't mean for this to happen, then why did it? Why did it?"_

"Answer me, Henry!" Jasper shouted, both the dead and live voices assaulting his ears.

"_Why did it happen, Henry?"_ Ella shrieked.

"Henry, answer me!" Jasper continued.

"No!" Henry screeched, clapping his hands over his ears, yet doing nothing to silence the onslaught of overlapping curses and questions. "No, please stop! I'm sorry! Please!"

"Answer me, Henry! Answer me!"

**~UH~UH~UH~**

"Henry, answer me," Jasper said worriedly, shaking the thrashing boy in front of him.

"No! Please!" Henry screamed and Jasper looked behind him, worried his father would come rushing in before Jasper had the time to investigate.

"Henry, answer me!" he begged as he took hold of the boy's upper arms, unaware of the bruises that lay underneath, and shook once again. His cousin awoke with a start, his eyes unfocused and panicked, full of fear and confusion.

"Where am I?" Henry asked timidly. _Timidly?_ Jasper thought. _Henry was NEVER timid._

"You're in the hospital waiting room," Jasper replied slowly, still extremely concerned his cousin no longer remembered where he was. "You fell asleep about four hours ago."

"And Ella?" he asked hurriedly.

"She's still in surgery," Jasper answered. He saw Henry visibly relax, so he removed his hands from Henry's arms. Exchanging a worried glance with Maggie he continued with his thought. "She's been there all day, and they say that she probably won't even get out until later in the evening if she's lucky." Jasper didn't know why, but seeing him relax at the thought on Ella still in surgery bothered him. How could he be relaxed when she was still in danger?

"Henry, what was that?" Maggie questioned, wanting to get to the bottom of what she had just witnessed.

"What?" he asked, clearly not thinking that Maggie would be curious as to his bizarre behavior. "Oh, dream," he replied.

_More like nightmare_ Jasper thought cynically.

"I'm okay," he assured them. "Just give me a minute. I'm fine. Where's, uh, where's everyone else?"

"Uh," Jasper starting thinking of all who had been in there. "Well, Aunt Rosie and Ms. Benson went down to the cafeteria to try and eat something. Mr. Benson and Uncle Zafe went to the bathroom and my dad and Colonel Winnock are just outside."

"Colonel Winnock?" Henry asked, rubbing his brow and wincing, as if he was fighting off a migraine.

"Yeah," Maggie picked up. "He stopped by to make sure you were okay."

"Are you okay?" Jasper questioned.

"What?" Henry wondered. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm going to, uh, go outside and see your dad." He stood and left a bewildered Jasper and Maggie sitting in his wake. The door shut and Maggie turned to Jasper.

"He said he was fine," she assured him.

"Yeah well," Jasper replied, shifting uneasily in his chair. "Henry's a terrible liar."

**~UH~UH~UH~**

She didn't know how long she had been unconscious, but when she awoke, it was nothing like the surreal experience she had before. Everything felt real this time, the sheets beneath and covering her, the scent of bleach invading her noise and the soft beep of something she didn't recognize.

When her leaded eyelids finally opened, they were met with a white ceiling and a friendly face, smiling. She felt a gentle hand touch the top of her head, in a place that wasn't throbbing. "Hey there, beautiful," the man said softly.

"Am I in the hospital?" she asked, her voice much hoarser than even she thought it would be.

"Yes," the man replied, clearly a doctor. "Now, I want you to rest for a few minutes while I go and get your parents okay?"

"Wait," she called weakly. "Henry?" With the morphine running through her system, there was really no way to form a complete sentence without getting used to the pain killer first.

"Is completely fine and is going to make a full recovery," the doctor smiled. "And so are you. You're going to be just fine." And he left, presumably to retrieve her parents and hopefully Henry or even Jasper. The bubble that swelled inside of her at the news that Henry was going to be okay was large with happiness. He at least wasn't going to suffer as much as her. But was she going be 'just fine'? Probably not. _But, I'm going to do my best to believe that_ she thought attempting to take in a breath and ignoring the most severe of her terrifying memories.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

A/N: Did you like my fake out? Pretty good huh? Okay, not really. I probably scared the crap out of all ya'll. My bad. But anyhow, its winter break from school and I hope to get at least one more chapter up before school rolls back into session again. Hope you like this! Review please! Thank you!


	11. A Turn

Disclaimer: Nope. Not mine.

A/N: Wow, I'm on a roll. Cranked out four thousand words in two days. Awesome! This is where it takes a turn. I don't know if you guys'll like it, but I'm trying to create some serious angst here. I hope it works. Drop by and give me a review on what you think! And without further ado…

**~UH~UH~UH~**

"As far as I can see," the doctor began ambiguously, leaving only the conclusion to his statement to answer the question the entirety of the room wanted answered, "Ella will make a full physical recovery." A collective sigh of relief flowed from all the people in the room. It was as if a suffocating pillow that had previously pressed down upon them was lifted and they could finally breathe easy.

"Can we see her?" her mother asked eagerly.

"I don't see why not," her doctor replied removing his Dumbledore-like glasses shaped like half-moons, "but she's weak, and I feel it would be unwise for more than a few of you to see her. The shock may overwhelm her." Jasper silently agreed with the man and came to the conclusion in his mind that he would not be seeing Ella that night. It was fine, as long as he knew she was going to make it through him going home and she would be there in the morning when he came to visit.

"Okay," her father replied. "Henry, Jasper," he then continued holding out his arm to them, as if inviting the two boys with him. Jasper was taken aback and he did nothing to conceal his surprise. "Come on," he said beckoning the two boys over to him. Jasper was stunned to stillness for a moment, but then snapped himself from his trance. He was honored Ella's father respected him enough to allow Jasper to see his daughter along with him immediately.

"Thank you, sir," Jasper found himself saying as the four exited the private waiting room, Ella's doctor in the lead. Henry had still said nothing, though looked shocked and a little scared at the prospect of seeing Ella so soon.

"You don't need to call me 'sir', Jasper," he replied, gently patting the young boys shoulder.

"Sorry, sir." Jasper couldn't help himself. The rest of the walk, which seemed to be all the way across the hospital to Jasper, was made in a peaceful silence and after what appeared to be much more than a few minutes, they arrived at the closed door to what appeared to be Ella's hospital room.

"We'll wait out here," Jasper told her parents. "Just let us know when you're done." Suddenly, Ella's bother (whom Jasper really had never gotten to know) whirled around and hugged a highly bewildered Henry tightly.

"Thank you for saving her," Jasper heard her whisper to his cousin. He saw Henry force a smile and before he actually had a chance to reply with words, she disappeared into the hospital room that housed her daughter as the door swung quietly closed behind her and shut with a click.

When it closed, Henry had turned away from his cousin. Jasper peered around Henry's body and thought he saw the faintest trace of tears in his eyes and pain on his face, but when the boy turned around, it all had vanished and Henry was as stony-faced as ever. "Hey, Hen," Jasper whispered placing a hand on his shoulder. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I didn't save her, Jasper," he mumbled, so quietly Jasper almost missed it. "I couldn't keep her safe."

Jasper wanted to reply with something philosophical, something Maggie might have said to make his cousin feel better, but nothing seemed to come to his mind. Everything he could have said sounded stupid even in his own mind and nothing could have possibly made Henry feel any less guilty or made the pain any easier. Henry had never looked so lost and Jasper had no way to find him again.

Ten minutes later, Ella's parents emerged with cheeks stained from tears. "You should go next," Jasper directed towards Henry. The boy nodded as he entered and Jasper had the distinct impression Henry would not be as stoic when he finally spoke to Ella.

Jasper wanted to have a conversation with Ella's parents, really anything to get rid of the silence that engulfed them and to prevent him from thinking about what he was going to say or feel when he walked into that lonely room, but he had no such luck. Anything of the sort would be awkward and inappropriate to say the least. _"Hey, I know your daughter was just kidnapped, raped, tortured, and shot, but how 'bout that weather?"_ Even in his head, he was asking to be punched. So he waited in silence for Henry to emerge.

When he did, Jasper was surprised first of all that it had taken such a short time, but he was also equally surprised that Henry didn't appear to have been crying. He was pale, sure, but there was no residue of tear drops on his face. But Jasper pondered this no longer. Finally after so many hours, he could finally see his best friend.

Jasper entered, his stomach twisting and writhing in nervous knots in fear of what he would see. When his eyes rested upon her small figure in the bed, he felt a stab of unexplained guilt bury deep in his heart. Her eyes were closed and for a moment, all he could do was study her in a horrified fascination. Her eyes were sunken in and her nose was highly bruised. It appeared to be lopsided as if it had been snapped. To his astonishment, there were only two cuts on her face: one healing on her cheek and the other resting on her forehead. Beneath the hospital gown, he observed a solid ring of black, blue, and purple around her wrists and upper arms, nearly identical to Henry's Jasper had only recently found out about. Jasper didn't even want to imagine what was concealed beneath the starchy sheets, and he couldn't help the tears that filled his eyes. He would have kept staring, but Ella opened her eyes and whispered, "Jasper," in a raspy yet somehow surprised voice.

"Hey," he said forcing a watery smile. "Hey, Ellie." She smiled as well as she could at his use of the nickname on he used. "How are you feeling, sweetie?"

He made his way to the chair set up at her bedside and took her hand in his own as she replied, "Hmm, good news, bad news, I suppose. Bad news, I've been shot. Good news, the morphine's kicking in and I get to see you and Henry." Jasper chuckled absently, but inside, underneath her sarcastic retort, he knew she was screaming.

He allowed the smile to slide off his face and reluctantly a tear found its way out of her eye. Before he could wipe it away himself, a smaller hand rested on his cheek and brushed it softly away. "I'm sorry, Ella," Jasper mumbled, remembering it was he who made Henry and Ella walk home instead of driving them. "I'm sorry I let this happen."

"It's funny," she replied, almost to herself. "Henry told me almost the exact same thing. You two really are related." This time Jasper's smile was genuine. Ella attempted to stifle a yawn, but didn't succeed.

"I should go," Jasper said, removing her hand from his cheek. "You need sleep."

He started to rise but before he could even think about turning around and walking out, a hand clutched his own. "Will you stay?" she asked. "Just until I fall asleep?"

"Sure," Jasper replied, retaking his seat. He enveloped her hand with both of his own as she sighed and closed her eyelids.

"I miss hanging out with you," she mumbled, her lips barely moving as the morphine took hold to her surrendering body. "We should start hanging out again with Maggie and Henry and stuff."

"Sure," Jasper whispered, brushing the bangs out of her face. "You can come over again Saturday mornings and we can watch cartoons and eat cold pizza, like we used to." The nostalgia of the moment was not lost on Jasper, and he felt himself longing for those days when all he had to worry about was what they were going to watch so they wouldn't get bored.

"Okay," she mumbled. "I miss you, Jasper."

"I miss you too, sweetie," he replied tucking a strand of brunette hair behind her ear. "I promise we won't stop hanging out ever again, okay?"

"Okay," she answered with a sigh. Her breathing evened and her hand relaxed signaling to Jasper that she had fallen asleep. He removed his hand and gently as to not wake her from her drug and exhaustion-induced sleep, pecked her on the top of the head. "Good night, Ellie." And he exited the room.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

After bidding farewell to both sets of parents when the news had finally reached them Ella was out of surgery and okay, Hotch and led his team out of the hospital and back to the house to pack up their things and head home in their big, black SUV's. When they reached the Benson Household, it was much less active. There was little movement and everyone seemed in much lighter spirits than in hours past.

Morgan watched as Hotch shook hands with the lead detective, smiled at the man's reaction, then made his way into the house to aid Garcia in cleaning up her equipment. The bouncing red-head was humming happily to herself as she folded her laptop closed. "Told you you'd find 'em baby girl," he said with a small smile.

She chuckled lightly as she replied, "Yes you did. We did good today."

"That we did," Morgan agreed as he handed her the headset she had recently taken off.

Just outside, Emily was aiding in loading some of the already packed items into their car with Rossi. "You remember when I said that sometimes our job sucks?" she asked, referring back to the anthrax scare they had and when she had to lie to a woman to keep her from panicking. Emily hated lying and always wanted to think it was the bad thing to do, but because of that event… she wasn't so sure anymore.

"Yeah," Rossi replied, recalling the conversation.

"Well, sometimes it really doesn't," she said.

"You're right," Rossi said. "Sometimes we do help."

Hotch bid goodbye to the detective and nearly ran into his resident genius. "Where's JJ?" the young man asked him. In all the years he had worked with Dr. Spencer Reid, the only two people Hotch saw him visibly care for were Gideon (whom had left the FBI with not so much as a warning, leaving only a note to explain himself to his protégé) and JJ, the latter probably because of a small crush that had developed when they had first met that carried over into today's life.

"I told her to go home to her son," Hotch replied, knowing how hard his young liaison had worked during this case. She deserved a little rest and the chance to just hug her son without having to deal with being on call.

"Why aren't you leaving?" Reid asked. _I swear, sometimes that kid is too smart for his own good_ Hotch thought, his mind travelling back to Jack, asleep in his bed by now being watching by his late wife's sister. How he wanted to go home, but being the boss, he couldn't just take off.

"I will be once we get back to the BAU," he answered ambiguously. Reid didn't seem to approve of this answer, and saw right through the deflective way Hotch responded, but that was to be expected. The young man was a profiler after all. But he didn't press it. "Good job today, Reid."

"Thanks, Hotch," Reid replied softly moving away to aid the stumbling Garcia and chuckling Morgan. This was the reason Hotch stayed in the BAU. Sure catching criminals was great; putting them away for life and preventing them from hurting anyone was even better. But he really hung around because saving one of the potential victims, saving a kidnapping victim, keeping a life from being snuffed out by another psycho: that was the real pay off. Money meant nothing and he was always paid back when the victim he found was still breathing. So saving Ella Benson and Henry Griffin was all he could have hoped for. And he couldn't have done it without his brilliant team.

All the pain, all the late nights, all the days away from his son: it all was worth it to keep the world a safer place for Jack, for all the other kids like Jack, and that is how Aaron Hotchner slept at night.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Jasper left his room, closing the door lightly behind him, and tip-toeing down the stairs. Henry had just fallen asleep and waking the lightest sleeper on the planet after what he had been through was probably not the best idea. The ride home was quiet, uneventful, except for the approval of Jasper and Maggie's father for Maggie to spend the night with Jasper and Henry.

That was the reason behind her presence on Jasper's couch, her head resting on a pillow. Her eyes were not closed however, but wide open, staring into the ceiling. Jasper lowered himself next to her. The shift in weight made her aware of the second presence and her trance disappeared as she lifted her head. "How's Henry?" she asked.

"Fell asleep as soon as I turned the light out," he replied

"He needs it," Maggie mumbled, more to herself than to Jasper.

"We should sleep too," Jasper sighed beginning to get up, but Maggie made no move to follow him.

"I don't really think I can right now," Maggie murmured. "After all that's happened… I mean, just knowing Henry's… and I can't help him… I don't know."

"Mags," Jasper said slowly, stunned he wasn't the one needing comfort. "You haven't slept in days. They saved him. And it's Henry. He'll be okay." She seemed to sit on those statements for a few moments, but didn't respond, appearing unconvinced. To Jasper's profound bafflement, he saw tears collecting in Maggie's eyes that were previously non-existent. As close as he was to Maggie, he had never seen her cry or break down before. Margret Winnock never panicked; she was always collected and cool and knew what to say or do, even when Henry was missing. But this time, she was at a loss for words and that stunned Jasper. Usually, it was she that was comforting him, but now it was the other way around. It was funny how things worked like that. Not funny, haha, but funny strange, that the universe could always so easily turn the tables. _Wow, _Jasper thought._ I really do need sleep._

"Mags…" Jasper said softly, not quite knowing what to say in comfort. But apparently, she didn't need him to say anything to launch herself into a very mystified Jasper's arms, clinging tightly to his sweat jacket. Through the fabric, he could feel tears soaking through into his flesh, but she made no noise. Anyone looking on wouldn't think she was actually crying, but Jasper knew she was, so he wrapped his arms around her small body and gently rubbed her back. "You know Henry," he whispered, not knowing what else he could possibly say. "He'll be all right. He's a fighter through and through."

"I know," he heard her finally whisper. "Thanks Jasper." He expected her to pull away from his embrace, to apologize for her behavior because that's what he thought Maggie would have done, but she didn't. She stayed in the comfort of his arms for at least five minutes before she pulled away, the only evidence of her tears, red eyes and a wet patch on Jasper's shoulder.

"Come on," he whispered gently rubbing her arm. "We should get some sleep."

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Maggie awoke to the sound of screaming. For a brief moment, she couldn't remember where she was and why she was there. The screaming was foreign and she couldn't understand why someone would be screaming in the middle of the night. But after that brief moment, she recalled all the events that had conspired before she fell into the soft embrace of sleep and immediately she knew exactly who was making the noise. She failed out of bed, flinging the covers off of her when she saw Henry thrashing wildly in his hammock. She struggle to untangle herself as Jasper scrambled to flip the light switch. The light flickered on as the door to the bedroom was flung open and Henry's parents and uncle came charging in.

Henry was moving about so much Maggie momentarily wondered how he hadn't fallen out yet. But the Griffin's were soon at their son's side. His mother woke him gently, much to the contrast of Jasper in the waiting room, stroking his hair and murmuring in a foreign language unfamiliar to Maggie. She along with Jasper and his father stood back and merely observed helplessly.

When the boy finally woke from his clearly terrifying dream, he was lying on the bed he never used bed. His father had lifted him like a small child, like he would have done when Henry was little. "Mom?" he whimpered softly in a voice that made Maggie ache.

"It's okay, baby," she cooed, bringing him close to her chest.

"I'm sorry," he cried. "I'm so sorry."

"Shh," she hushed, stroking his hair once more. Maggie caught Jasper's eye and exchanged a worried glance with him. Henry was _crying_, actually _crying_, sobbing in fear in his mother's arms as she cradled him, a sight Maggie wished she could unsee. After a while, Henry pulled away from his mother's embrace, sniffling. "Are you all right, sweetheart?"

"I'm fine," Henry said. "Really. You guys should all go back to sleep." His parents look hesitant at the prospect of leaving their son in his present state, but eventually agreed. The three adults left the room. With a final farewell and allowed the teenagers to talk alone.

Henry scooted until he was sitting at the edge of the bed. He winced and put a hand to his side. "Are you okay?" Maggie asked gently.

"Yeah," he replied. "I'm just gonna take some pain killers and go back to bed."

"I'll get them," Jasper offered. "Your prescription's downstairs on the kitchen counter." He exited, leaving Maggie and Henry alone together.

Henry winced again and forgetting Maggie was in the room, lifted the fabric of his shirt that clung to his skin with sweat to get a better look at the gash down his side, making sure the stitches had not ripped out. But Maggie had not yet seen the extent of his injuries so when she saw the bruises of various sizes, colors, and shapes, the small knife nicks, and the gauzed up five-inch long slice on his chest she nearly fainted. "Oh my God, Henry," she whispered covering her mouth with her hand. His torso was almost completely mutilated and her breath caught.

Henry quickly let his shirt drop to hide the wounds at the sight of the color draining from her face. "Sorry Maggie," he said softly. "I should have warned you."

"That's okay," Maggie forced herself to say. "No, really it's fine." Before the moment could get any more awkward, Jasper came back into the room with a water bottle and a single pill.

He clearly seemed unaware of the tension in the room as he said, "I'm pretty sure the prescription's really strong and it says take two, but I figured one would do the trick." He handed Henry the open water bottle and solitary pain killer. "But I brought the whole bottle up and put it in the bathroom in case you do need another one."

"Thanks Jasper," Henry said with a weak and clearly fake smile. He took the pill with a small sip of water twisted the cap on, and stood from Maggie's temporary bed. Maggie saw his knees wobble a little and she prepared herself to catch him in need be. But he stayed upright, and it made Maggie feel better, if only slightly. "Sorry I woke you guys up," he said quietly.

"Don't' be," Jasper said. "Really, it's okay." It seemed Jasper received the same message from Henry's eyes that Maggie did: Please don't ask. And neither of them did. Instead Jasper suggested, "Why don't you try and get some sleep?"

"Okay." And he shuffled to his hammock, laid down in it and stared blankly at the ceiling, his eyes closing and opening slowly again. Again Maggie shot Jasper a worried glance as she said concerned but not pressing, "Good night, Henry."

Jasper moved to flick the light switch down but a tiny voice that did not sound like Henry said, "Please don't turn it off." He brought his hand back and looked worriedly at Maggie again.

"Okay," he whispered, and he moved away leaving the light on.

"We're right here if you need us, Henry," Maggie said as she climbed beneath the covers, content to sleep with the lights on if that was going to help Henry.

Just as she settled in and everyone stopped moving, she heard Henry whisper, "I know."

**~UH~UH~UH~**

This time when Maggie awoke, it was light out and it was to the sound of humming and rustling. It was early but later than everyone else had woken up. Jasper was up and moving about in his room, picking things up and putting them away. He had changed clothes and his hair was damp indicating to Maggie he had already taken a shower. Henry was nowhere to be found and his hammock was swaying, empty.

"Where's Henry?" were the first words out of her groggy mouth.

"Bathroom," Jasper replied. "He woke up about ten minutes before you did. My aunt and uncle are downstairs and my dad went to the store. He should be back any time now." As if on cue, the garage door opened signaling Dean Bartlett's return. "Your dad stopped by, dropped some clothes off for you and he wants you to call him."

She grabbed her cell phone from the bedside table where she had placed it the night before and dialed her father's number. It wasn't a long conversation. He just wanted to make sure she was doing okay and that she was allowed to stay the next night as well so long as she called first. She agreed, said goodbye, then hung up the phone.

"If you want to take a shower, you could go knock on the door and see if Henry's done," Jasper suggested folding up his comforter on his bed.

"Okay," Maggie said with a yawn.

She got up, moved down the hallway, and gently rapped upon the closed bathroom door. "Henry?" she called. "Henry, are you okay in there?" She didn't hear a response, so she knocked again, a little louder this time. "Come on Henry, at least acknowledge me." When he didn't answer for the second time a pit of worry lodged itself in her stomach. What if he had fallen and hit his head? Again and louder she hit the door, though this time it was loud enough to attract Jasper's attention.

"What's wrong?" Jasper asked.

"Henry's not answering," Maggie replied.

Jasper thudded with force and called, "Henry! Henry, open up." No answer. "Come on, dude! This isn't funny! Henry!" He continued to bang and shout each time getting progressively louder until his father, aunt, and uncle came to investigate the source of the loud noise.

As soon as Henry's father began his own system of hammering, they heard a loud thump as if someone had fallen. Getting into the bathroom now seemed imperative. Henry's father forced the lock in and the door burst open, revealing Henry on the floor convulsing.

"Oh my God!" Maggie shouted, as everyone else stood in a stunned paralysis. Only Henry's father seemed to know what to do.

He turned Henry on his side and said, nearly frantic, "Bryan, I need you to hold his head still so he doesn't hit it. Jasper, call an ambulance."

But Jasper didn't move. He was staring in horror at his cousin seizing on the floor of his bathroom. "Jasper!" Maggie shrieked. That snapped him out of his trance in a hurry.

"Call… ambulance… right," he stuttered, stumbling towards the home phone. Jasper came back with the phone in his hands and fumbled with the keys until after what seemed like agonizing hours Jasper managed to dial 911. "Help, please," he pleaded. "My cousin, he's like having a seizure on the floor. We don't know what to do. No, no we don't know what caused it. Please, you have to hurry!" He gave his address but words failed him when Henry went limp and his eyes rolled back into his head.

The phone slipped from Jasper's fingers and fell with a clatter to the floor as Maggie dug her fingernails into the flesh of his arms. Finally Jasper heard sirens in the distance and ten seconds later the paramedics shoved their way to Henry. Jasper couldn't understand anything they rattle off to each other and he didn't know how long they were there or where they were taking Henry, only they were there one second then gone the next with his cousin, aunt, and uncle.

When the chaos had died down and everyone but Jasper and Maggie had left the bathroom, Maggie caught sight of something in the corner of the bathroom, despite her hysteria. Jasper took a calming deep breath and tried to comprehend what had just happened, and didn't notice what Maggie had picked up with a furrowed brow. "Jasper," she said slowly, attracting his attention. "This is Henry's prescription bottle," she said, showing him what was in her hand.

"What?" he asked, weak and confused.

"Well, it's empty and there are no pills on the floor," she said. "Even in the confusion, there would some crushed pills or they would be scattered but they wouldn't have disappeared. Which only means that Henry must have-"

"No," Jasper refused firmly. "No, Henry would never… He wouldn't…" But Jasper didn't finish. After everything that had happened, after everything he had learned and witnessed, he didn't know what Henry would or wouldn't do anymore. And the though terrified him.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

A/N: Whew! That was tiring. I hope you like it. And now we say good bye to the BAU. So sad. *wipes tear* I tried to get a little of everything and everyone in here for you guys. And I think this is the first time in a long time I've kind of given you a cliffy. Well, it isn't really. But it kind of is. And I know, it's kind of OOC, but seriously, I'm trying to go realistic here and nobody would bounce back from something like that with nothing. Review please, my fine furry friends. :D


	12. Confessions

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.

A/N: Okay, so here's the next installment. Warning: Major angst in this one. Poor Henry. I just love torturing that poor guy. Okay, so here you go: the newest chapter.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

The car remained eerily silent save for the light pitter-patter of rain on the roof of the car and the swish of the windshield wipers. Not one of the three people cooped up inside Dean Bartlett's vehicle had anything to say. When Jasper hadn't the evidence to shoot down Maggie's theory, he clammed up and said nothing else, not even when his father had gotten off the phone and informed them they were going to the hospital. So the ride to the hospital to see Henry was a tense filled, silent one.

The lines of Dean Bartlett's face seemed somehow more pronounced in the past few days and he looked as if he could drop dead right there from stress. He pulled into a miraculously vacant hospital parking spot and sighed. This was it. Maggie was finally going to get to know if she was right… and if the Henry she knew was gone. In her heart, though, she thought she already knew.

"Okay," he said with another sigh. _That can't be good_. "Well, according to my sister and her husband, Henry is alive." He said that with so little gusto and Maggie assumed it was no consolation to him either. "But the doctors had to pump his stomach. When they did they found high levels of Percocet in his system. Everything suggests that Henry…" He stopped and Maggie willed him to just continue. It would be easier to hear. "…that Henry tried to commit suicide." And Maggie knew she was right. Everything added up. Everything made sense, everything except for why. Why would Henry ever feel that _this_ was his only way out? It just didn't make sense to her. She never thought Henry Griffin would _ever _in a million years _give up._

But the dean continued. "He's resting on suicide watch in the Pysch-ward right now-"

"What, like he's crazy?" Jasper snapped. "Henry is a lot of things but he is not crazy. And people telling him he is and giving him drugs for it is not going to help!"

"Jasper," the dean sighed gently. "Henry has been through a severe traumatic event. I think this may be the best thing for him right now. That way he can't hurt himself again."

Jasper shook his head. "This is bullshit!" he shouted, ignoring the fact he cursed in front of his father. His voice was sharp and loud in the enclosed space and Maggie winced. She saw Jasper's eyes fill with involuntary tears. "It's not fair," he said. "Why does crap like this have to happen to people like Ella and Henry? They didn't do anything to anyone! It's just… it's just wrong," he finished mostly to himself, stumbling his way out of the car and slamming to door on his father.

"I'm sorry, Maggie," the dean said, rubbing his brow. Maggie couldn't be sure, but it looked like he was fighting off a major headache.

"That's okay," she replied softly.

"Maybe you should follow him," he suggested. "I'm just going to stay here for a few minutes."

"Okay," she whispered, opening the car door with a click. "I'm sorry too, Dean Bartlett."

Before Jasper's father had the chance to respond with whatever he was going to say, Maggie closed the door and headed towards Jasper's form, hunched over and walking with no purpose towards the hospital's entrance ignoring the rain.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Maggie eventually caught up with Jasper and after they asked the front desk where they could find their friend, strode in silence down the clean, white, bustling hallways of what was the local hospital. They could easily pick out the room Henry resided in as his parents were standing just outside of it, speaking in low murmurs. "Jasper, Maggie," Mr. Griffin said upon seeing the two teenagers approach.

"Uncle Zafe," Jasper said calmly, hiding well that he had just lost his temper at his father. "How is he?"

"Physically he's fine," his uncle answered with a sigh, Maggie understanding the innuendo inside his words.

"Did he tell you why?" she asked quietly.

"He hasn't said a word," Mrs. Griffin answered, if possible, even softer than Maggie had spoken. "Maybe you two will get something out of him because he hasn't told us anything." Her husband wrapped his arms around her shoulders as she struggled to hold back tears.

"We'll see what we can do, Aunt Rosie," Jasper said gently. His aunt nodded and Jasper pushed open the door to Henry's room. They found him sitting on the long window sill with his knees pulled tightly to his chest. His eyes were gazing sadly out of the window as he watched a few raindrops fall from the sky.

"Henry?" Maggie asked softly. "Can we come in?" There was no reaction from the boy. He didn't even turn to look at them.

"Henry," Jasper called louder, closing the door with a click. "Dude, seriously, the silent treatment? You can do better than that." Still, Henry did not peal his eyes away from the window and the raindrops sliding down the depressed glass. "Henry, my god, are you kidding me? Maggie and I just spent over two and a half days worrying out of our goddamn minds for you, you scare us half to death, and then you just… ignore us? Don't even acknowledge our presence?" he ranted.

"Jasper," Maggie whispered, placing her hand on his shoulder. She could see the tears forming in Henry's eyes and she knew Jasper was hurting him. "Jasper, stop-"

But he easily shrugged her hand off and continued his tirade. "Your mother was _crying_ out in the hallway because her son thought he couldn't live on anymore and he didn't have the decency to even tell her _why_, why he didn't want to face her, why he thought he needed to die. You know, I may not have any idea what it is you're going and have gone through, but I know what I've gone through. I thought you of all people wouldn't even think about it because of my…" Jasper seemed to stray away from the topic of his mother. "When I thought you had died… I couldn't think. At least not about anything but the pain. You're not indestructible, Henry. You're not _invincible_, Henry. I never thought Henry Griffin would be a coward. But then again, I never thought my mom wasn't happy enough to keep on living with me, so apparently, I'm just a shitty judge of character." Henry remained silent through Jasper's passionate rant, his mouth thinning into a nearly invisible line. "Damn, say something!" Jasper shouted. "Or is none of this real to you?"

"Of course it's real to me!" Henry suddenly screamed. He was now standing defensively, tears streaming down his cheeks. Maggie nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden change of pitch and voice. "It's always been real to me!" His last statement was so soft that if the room hadn't been ringing with a tense silence, Maggie would have missed it. "You don't understand."

"You're right," Jasper said coldly, his eyes glimmering with frustration, clearly not fazed with Henry's sudden and very loud reaction. "I don't. Please, explain to me how someone like you, who has everything and everyone you have to help you through this and who has had a family member who they lost to something like this could _ever_ have the thought of suicide _even cross their __**mind**_. Please, help me understand just why you did something like this."

For the first time in her life, Maggie saw Henry Griffin at a loss for what to say to his cousin. He backed up, like he had been hit (which considering what Jasper had said wasn't far away) until he slid down the wall in the corner of the room and buried his face in his hands. "Jasper, stop this," Maggie snapped when it looked like Jasper was going to start yelling again. "Go see Ella," she ordered firmly. "Go see Ella. I will handle this."

Jasper didn't say anything as he angrily flung himself out of the room and let the door slam behind him. Maggie waited to see if anyone would barge in, then slowly made her way over to Henry, curled in the corner shaking in silent tears.

"Henry?" she called gently. "Henry, it's just me. Jasper's gone. Come on, you can always talk to me." Before she knew it, she was kneeling beside and placing a hand gently on his trembling shoulder. His head raised in surprise, like he didn't expect her to be this persistent. His tear-worn, broken brown eyes gazed at her sadly, willing her not to leave. "Henry, please."

"I…" he whispered. "I can't do this, Mags."

"Henry, of course you can," she replied with a small smile. "You're Henry Griffin. You can do anything."

"Not this," he stated. "I can't… I can't live with the guilt."

"What guilt?" she asked calmly. He was actually talking now and she didn't want to blow it by not asking a simple question.

"Everything that happened to that girl," he said, "every single thing that happened, happened because I let it. I didn't do anything to save her, to help her. And I _hate_ myself for it, more every minute." He stopped and clenched his teeth together to try and control himself, then continued before Maggie had a chance to reply. "Every single time I close my eyes I can see them and I can hear her screams echo in my head…" His eyes glazed over as if he were recalling a horrible memory, a memory Maggie was soon to find out, even if she didn't really want to. "I don't even remember how I got the gun," he whispered. "I just remember him coming at me and the gun going off…I…I killed someone Mags," he sobbed."I killed someone and I don't get any form of punishment? How does that make me better than them, more worthy? It… it doesn't. I'm just like them. I'm just like them." He couldn't say anymore. The pain and tears were just too much.

Maggie was stunned for a few moments. She had heard nothing of Henry's ordeal, nothing that had happened to him or Ella or what they had experienced, not even who had really taken them. She didn't even know the man's name. The FBI had said nothing, confessed nothing, and she wasn't even sure Henry knew who they were. Now, he was pouring his heart out to her, confessed he had taken a life and how much it hurt him to do so.

It took everything Maggie had not to break down with him. Instead, she took a breath and started to speak words of comfort. "Henry, I have a hard time believing you did nothing. Look at you. You're covered in bruises." The boy didn't look up, tears of shame still running down his face. "Henry," she continued softly, yet assuring, "there's a difference between not doing anything and not being _able_ to do anything. If you had just sat back and watched her get hurt, you wouldn't have gotten these," she ran her fingers across the bruises on his arms, "or these," this time she touched his neck, "or this" she gestured to the cut on his forehead, "or any of the other cuts and bruises I saw last night. Those men didn't want you Henry and I have a hard time believing they would hurt you if you didn't try to save her, okay?" Henry nodded briefly and continued to wipe away the steady flow of tears streaming down his cheeks. "What's more than that, I know you Henry. And I know for a fact that you are not the type of person to do nothing." It was true. In fact, it was harder for Maggie and Jasper to convince Henry to do nothing than to force him to do something. So the thought of Henry just sitting around waiting for something to happen? That just didn't ring true at all.

"I also know that you are not the type of person to hurt someone else unless it was completely necessary. You are not like those men." She stressed this, wanting to make sure he knew that she didn't think him a murderer. "They kidnapped two children and tortured them for revenge and for fun. I have no doubt in my mind that if you hadn't pulled the trigger, he would have killed you both. You killed him in self defense. That does not make you a murderer, and you have to believe that. So you are not like them." Maggie struggled with this. She didn't know how or why Henry thought he would even be considered in the same sentence or category as those psychos, but somehow he did. "And as far as your 'punishment', Henry, you were kept in basically a dungeon for two days and tortured. Don't you think that's punishment enough?"

Maggie couldn't help but allow the tears she had been holding back flow now as Henry collapsed into her arms, clung tightly to her sweater, and cried into her shoulder. She rubbed his back and mumbled, "Everything's going to be all right. It's going to be fine. Don't worry. It'll all work out."

"I really hope you're right, Mags," she heard him whisper and she couldn't help but think _Me too…_ "How mad are they?" he asked. "My parents?"

"They're not mad, Henry," Maggie said. "They're confused and worried. All right? I think you just need to talk to them. But they won't be angry with you."

He pulled away from her embrace. "Will you go and get them?" he asked, brushing the moisture still lingering on his cheeks.

"Of course," she said. "And don't worry; I'll explain everything to Jasper."

For the first time since they had rescued Henry, he genuinely smiled. It was small, but it was there. "Thanks Maggie."

"Anytime," she replied with a tiny, reassuring smile.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

Jasper stormed angrily out of Henry hospital room, thankfully unhindered by his aunt and uncle who were mysteriously nowhere to be found. He tore through the hospital, taking the stairs up or down or he didn't even know. Jasper had no idea where he was going, he just knew he had to get away or get somewhere or… The boy couldn't even finish a complete thought. He sped through the white hallways miraculously not hitting or running into anyone. No one tried to stop him.

Finally, Jasper reached a familiar sight: the door to Ella's hospital room. Apparently his subconscious was telling him he needed to inform Ella of the recent conspired events. "I hate my subconscious," he growled under his breath. But he didn't push open the door. In fact, his hand slowly fell until it was at his side again, neglecting the door knob. Instead he felt his anger slowly vanishing and realized to the full extent what he had actually done. He had _yelled mercilessly_ at his cousin, his own _flesh_ and _blood_ because of the fury he had harbored so many years at himself.

Jasper had been through this before with his mother. He had to suffer through the sting of abandonment before and he had to suffer through the thoughts of guilt and grief. There were so many signs with Henry, he just _should have known_. Henry had been through a horrible trauma, he was having nightmares, and he couldn't even talk about what happened, so Jasper _should_ have been able to stop it before Henry actually… did something like this. In that moment, Jasper realized he wasn't mad at Henry because he felt so lost, he was mad at himself because he couldn't have prevented it from happening, because he didn't make enough of an effort to try and help his cousin, just like he didn't try to help his mother.

Jasper made this terrible realization and decided to open the door anyway. Someone needed to know what he had done. And Ella needed to know about what Henry had done, so she seemed the logical choice and he was standing right there. So he raised his hand again, sniffed back the tears of shame he felt burning his eyes, and turned the knob, hoping with all his heart that Ella remained asleep.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

"So go ahead; yell at me," Henry mumbled sliding into a chair very near Ella's bedside. "I deserve it."

It had been two days since Henry had been admitted, three since they had been rescued, and he had finally been released upon passing the psychological evaluation the Pysch-ward had to give him to be sure he wouldn't hurt himself again. His parents had vowed to stay in town for the next three weeks to be absolutely positive that he was going to make a full recovery, and he didn't mind in the slightest. Since his soul-bearing-secret session with Maggie, he felt much better and he welcomed help from the outside. But Ella, being with him during that hell of an experience, deserved her chance to berate him for his stupidity, and he knew just how foolish it was. The only thing that hadn't been resolved: Jasper still hadn't spoken to him since the day he… well, for two days.

"I'm not going to yell at you Henry," she mumbled softly. "Because you've already been yelled at by everyone and I think you get the point: your parents, your uncle, Maggie, Jasper." Henry cringed at the name, the shouting match echoing painfully in his mind. "But I am going to say something. I'm not going to pretend to know how you feel, because I don't. I only know how I feel. But the truth is Henry, I'm the only one on the planet that even has a remote idea of what you're going through and if you ever need that you can come to me, no questions. I trust you and I hope you can trust me." Henry's gazed lifted from the glittering white tiled floor, into her glittering green eyes.

"I trust you," he said softly, meaning those three extremely important words.

"Okay," she said with a small smile. "There's something else, before you get up. I want to talk to you about Jasper." Henry sighed and hung his head, exposing the eight finger marks on the back of his neck. "I know you really don't, but there's something you need to understand: he isn't mad at you Henry. He's mad at himself."

"What?" Henry asked, snapping his head up. "Why would he ever-"

All she did was hold up a hand, but she silenced him at once. "He'd been through this before with his mom, and he thinks that he should have known, that he should have seen the signs, when in reality that's completely irrational. He wishes he could go back and somehow help you more so you wouldn't make this decision. Though I think you and I both know you would have done this no matter what. Anyway, he's felt this sting of the person he loves would rather die than continue living with him and that hurts him more than anything else you could have said or done. I think you need to talk to him. But don't try and explain any of this. It won't go over well."

"So what do I say to him?" Henry asked feebly. "I mean, I nearly did the thing that I fear the most. What do I tell him?"

"Tell him you love him," she said simply. "And that you never meant to make him feel abandoned and there was nothing he did to push you to do what you did." Henry sat in awe. Here he was, weak and feeble, not knowing what to say to his cousin, not knowing how to go through something like this, breaking down at any little thought that brought back memories he didn't want to ever remember. But the girl who sat across from him, still in a hospital bed, hadn't even flinched, hadn't made one move to tear up or show any pain. Normally, Henry was the rock, but he quivered underneath her strength. She didn't even bat an eye when she heard what he had done, shown no emotion. But if Henry was being honest with himself, that is exactly what he needed, someone to just tell him like it is and not compromise him with emotion or frailty.

"Thanks, Ella," he said, gently squeezing her hand.

"You're welcome, Henry," she replied with a small smile, a smile Henry couldn't help but notice didn't reach her eyes.

**~UH~UH~UH~**

A/N: All righty then. I told you I'd get one more up before the end of winter break. Though I just want to warn you, I only have like two chapters left if I always do the length I do them at. Sorry guys. But they are gonna be awesome chapters! Though it really isn't gonna happen for at least a week. I have a theater project I need to get a jump on because if I don't _I'm _gonna want to kill myself. Not really, though it will suck, let me tell you. Okay, I'm done talking now. Here you go.


End file.
